An Orchid beside the Red Heaven Way
by Lost Fanfiction
Summary: It's been a few months since Ranma got engaged to Nabiki. One day, Akane's usual school day is interrupted by the presence of a new student, Shikon Ran. (By Michael Barnard. Story published here because all websites is is on have vanished.


**This story was written by Michael Barnard. I am posting it because there is no other easily available website that this story can be read on. If the author of this story wishes to talk to me about the posting of it, contact me using the email in my profile.  
**

* * *

Forward:

Takahashi-sama built the playground. This is just a record of

me playing on it. I offer it freely, in gratitude to those who have done

the same (I hope they don't mind my shameless theft of idea's either).

May it spark your imagination.

This is based on the Ranma manga, so no odd hair colors

unless otherwise indicated, and some characters will seem unfamiliar,

or different, to those who have only seen the anime. Others may seem

different regardless. The main story starts in volume five, just after

Mousse shows up, but diverges long before that. Take nothing for

granted, and remember that a name is only a name.

An Orchid Beside the Red Heaven Way

by Michael Barnard

Three figures walked among the cursed pools of Jusenkyo, stopping to look at one spring in particular. The youngest, a Japanese boy in his early teens, turned and asked of the Jusenkyo guide, "So, this is the pool?"

"Yes," the guide, a heavyset man in a Mao suit, answered, "This spring-of-drowned-boy. Strange man and young son you ask about come here looking for this spring. Very strange: when get here, boy jump in all by self. Of course, nothing happen-he already boy. Strange man not so lucky. He slip and fall into spring-of-drowned-panda and now cursed to be panda when splashed with cold water. You should come away now-it very dangerous here."

"Curiouser and curiouser," the third figure, a woman, commented.

"Sensei?" the boy looked puzzled.

"So, these springs really do have the magic to change a person's shape?"

The boy, confused and now getting bored, found his attention drawn to a point near another pool, and began to walk toward it.

"Yes, yes. That why it best idea not be near at all. Accidents happen if guests stay near pools. Almost if pools want to be fallen into. Very, very dangerous. We leave now?"

"Humm," the woman considered, "Well, I can feel the magic of these pools. Perhaps you are right. Still, I would like to get some samples to take with..."

She was interrupted by a splash. Both adults quickly turned their heads to see the boy disappear into another pool some distance away.

"Oh, no! Young sir fall into-"

"Ranma!"

* * *

With a final deft strike and a quick throw, Tendo Akane took down that last of this mornings challengers. *That's odd. Where is Kuno?* She looked around, expecting a rose to come zipping her way at any moment, followed by the usual narcissistic speech.

It never came.

Flipping her long hair over her shoulder, Akane walked into Furinkan High school, and made her way to her classroom. Coming in a few minutes early, she sat down next to the one male martial artist in the school who was not trying to date her.

"Ranma?" Akane received a noncommittal grunt from the boy. "Are you still in a bad mood?"

The look he gave her when he brought his head up from his arms was answer enough.

"Ranma! How can we help you if you won't even tell us what Shampoo's great-grandmother did to you?"

"Un-uh, not gonna," he responded, sticking his tongue out.

"Honestly, Ranma. If not all of us, at least tell Nabiki."

"Ha, if you think I'm going to admit something like that to the girl I'm going to marry..."

"Something like what?" Akane leaned forward with a not-so-nice smile on her face.

Ranma turned up his nose a huffed. "Think you can fool me that easy? If I have any say in it, none of you will ever know, even after I get it cured."

"Fine, be that way," Akane paused for a bit, then got a thoughtful look on her face. "You get here early with Nabiki, so do you know why Kuno didn't show up this morning?"

"He did? Well, I'm not his keeper, how should I know?"

"Baka," another student turned around in her desk to give Ranma a dirty look, "Only you would be so absorbed in your...whatever, not to have noticed the other fight this morning."

"Other fight?" Akane asked.

"Hai. A new girl showed up this morning. Kuno declared his love for her, and she sent him to the nurse's office."

"Ha, you should have seen it," a male student said, "She was the cutest girl I've ever seen! Petite with just the cutest face, a perfect figure, and the biggest-" the female student hit him over the back of the head. "Anyway, Kuno challenged her the way he usually does to you, and she shredded his wooden sword with her bare hands!"

"Shredded?"

"Yeah, it was just amazing, He was left holding a bunch of wood curls! Then she hit him once and he went down."

"Really?"

"Really! You can ask around. You might even be able to find what's left of his sword."

Akane sighed. "A new martial artist in town. She probably wants to break up Ranma and Nabiki, too."

"Hey don't be so paranoid. I said I was going to marry Nabiki, and that's what I'm going to do."

"This from the boy who agreed to Nabiki as the prize for the fight he is going to have today."

"Don't worry that Mousse guy is blind as a bat. So what if he knows a few tricks, he still can't beat me."

The sudden switch from depression to rampant overconfidence made everyone grimace. Just then the teacher entered the classroom, with a girl trailing behind him. The girl was several inches shorter than Akane, but her figure was very filled out. Her dark, shoulder length hair was pulled back into a small ponytail by a ribbon, leaving her cheerful and very cute face uncovered.

"...our new student, Shikon Ran," the teacher was saying.

"Pleased to meet you," the new girl said with a bow.

"Shikon-san, why don't you take a seat next to Tendo-san."

"Hai."

With that, the teach started taking role.

* * *

"Hi Shikon-san, would you like to eat lunch with me?" Akane saw no point in being rude, so, when lunch time came, she decided to approach the new student in a friendly manner.

"Sure," the girl said with a smile, "Thank you. And you can call me Ran."

"Then call me Akane," pleased at the promising start, she continued, "I heard you beat Kuno this morning."

"Oh, was that the hentai with the stick?"

Akane laughed, "That's him. Did you really shred his sword with your bare hands?"

Ran looked a little embarrassed. "Well, kinda. I didn't mean to show off, or anything, but he got me so mad the way he seemed to expect that I would want to go on a date with him. Oi, where did Saotome-kun go?"

Akane glanced around to see that Ranma was, in fact, no longer present. "He probably went to eat with Nabiki-oneesan. They are engaged to be married," She turned back to Ran, "Oh, no. Don't tell me you actually are here for him?"

Ran stared at her, "What...how...?"

Akane put a hand to her forehead, "So what is it for you? Are you here to marry him or kill him?"

"Nani?! No-no-no-no! Why would you think that?" Ran said in a rush, wide eyed.

Akane looked at Ran more seriously, "Since he got here, the only people coming after him have been here to either marry him or attack him. Sometimes both."

"His life must be...interesting."

"You have no idea."

Ran laughed. It was a nice, easygoing, uninhibited laugh that seemed at odds with her exterior. "No, I'm not going to do anything like that," she look down, and seemed suddenly melancholy. "I...lost my family when I was young, and the Saotome Ranma is really the only link I have to my past."

"Oh. Do you want me to tell him? He is going to be my brother in law."

Ran shook her head, "Actually, I'd rather he didn't know I've been...looking for him at all."

Akane frowned. "That sounds very suspicious, you know."

"I don't mean any harm. I was just hoping that being around him would help me, maybe hearing some of his past. I've never even met him, so I don't think he knows me. Its probably better for everyone if we don't make a big deal about it."

"Well, ok. But only if you promise me you're not going to cause trouble. We don't need another girl chasing after Ranma or trying to kill him."

"Fine with me. I'm certainly not looking for a husband, and I don't really like hurting people..."

"Tendo Akane! Shikon Ran! How fortunate that my two loves share the same classroom!" Ran and Akane looked up to see Kuno Tatewaki, blue thunder of Furinkan High, burst into the room.

"Come let us date!"

"...certain members of present company excluded."

* * *

"So, you've been traveling with your Sensei ever since?" Akane and Ran were walking home from school.

"Hai." Ran answered, "She sort of adopted me when I couldn't find my family. We have gone all over the world, trying to learn and understand all the unexplained phenomena we find."

"'Unexplained phenomena?' Like what?"

"Well, things like ghosts and miracles, things that people might call magic."

"Oh, so you go around trying to prove there is no magic. Wait until you see Mr. Saotome-he really turns into a Panda if you splash him with cold water."

"You mean he has a Jusenkyo curse?"

Akane's eyes widened. "You know about Jusenkyo? How can you say there is no magic?"

"I never said there was no magic, you did. I just said we try to understand those kind of things."

"Oh. So you are like mystics."

"Not that, either. We try to be very scientific, or at least as much as we can. It's a little hard to explain. If you want, I can introduce you to my Sensei; she can explain it better."

Akane stopped at the gates to a home and turned to Ran. "Well, here we are. This is where I live."

"The `Tendo Dojo,'" Ran read from a sign. She looked to be considering something deeply.

"Are you remembering something from your past already?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure why."

"Well, Ranma is going to inherit this Dojo from my father. He's been engaged to marry one of use since before we were born."

"Us?"

"My two older sisters and I."

"He was engaged to all three of you?!"

"No, just one, but he got to choose when he and his father returned from a long training journey. He chose Nabiki."

"Um, I don't mean to pry, but does that bother you? He is your age, after all..."

"Not at all," Akane huffed, "I hate boys. Especially arrogant jerks."

Ran just blinked at her a few times.

"Anyway," Akane continued, "if you were able to beat Kuno, this morning, you must be some kind of martial artist, right?"

Ran scratched the back of her head, "Ano, I do know a little kempo my father taught me when I was young but I don't know that I'd call myself a martial artist."

"Then how...?"

"I used a few tricks I've picked up or learned from my Sensei."

"Tricks?"

"I guess you would call it Ki manipulation. That kind of thing."

"Sugoi! I've heard of things like that, but I've never seen it." Ran blushed. "Its really not anything special. I'm pretty sure I could teach you to do it."

"Really? That's great! Then Ranma would have to take me seriously!"

Ran cocked her head, "What do you mean?"

"Ever since Ranma's gotten here, no one, especially, not Ranma, has taken me seriously as a martial artist. He would be a great sparring partner, but all he does is jump around and avoid me. I have to content myself with fighting the boys who attack me every morning, and Kuno."

"Attack you every morning? Wait a minute, all of those guys out front this morning in sports gear were there to attack you?"

Akane nodded, "And they do it every morning. Kuno waits until I'm done with all the rest before going after me, but you took him this morning, so..."

"Unbelievable. How can you stand it?"

Akane shrugged, "Just try harder and harder to take them down faster and cleaner, and hope I'm getting better."

"So you want a sparring partner?"

"Hai. You wouldn't by any chance be interested, would you?"

"Well, maybe, I guess. I really haven't spared with anyone in a long time, but I have kept up some of the forms as exercise."

* * *

"You're not half bad," Akane told Ran as she helped the smaller girl off the floor. "Especially at the end there. You seemed to know exactly what I was going to do."

"Hai, that was pretty interesting. I just sort of let myself flow with my Ki sense. You have a very strong aura, so maybe it was kind of telling me what you would do." Ran winced, rubbing a sore spot through her borrowed gi, "Not that that was always a help. You can hit really hard."

Akane looked down, "Sorry. I guess I got a little too much into it. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Don't worry about it. One of the benefits of what I have learned is that I can make myself heal very quickly. By this evening I won't have any bruises at all."

"You have got to teach me all of that some day," Akane said as they walked out of the dojo, "Can you stay for dinner?"

"Sure, Sensei trusts me on my own."

"Okay, I'll go find Kasumi."

Akane found Kasumi in the kitchen, but by then she had another question on her mind, "Oneesan, where is everyone else?'

"Ara, did you forget about Ranma's fight, Akane?"

"The Fight!"

"What fight?" Ran asked as she too entered the kitchen.

"Ranma was supposed to fight Mousse after school."

"Mousse?"

"Shampoo's boyfriend."

"Shampoo?"

"An Amazon from China who thinks she Ranma's wife."

Ran blinked. "Ara. Bad translation. Probably something like Mao Tsi and Xian Pu, right? Why does she think she is Ranma's wife."

"Ranma beat her by accident when she was trying to kill his father."

"Oh, THOSE Amazons. If I remember correctly, they also try to kill any woman that beats them. Very bad losers."

"You really have been around, haven't you?"

"Well..."

"Tadaima!" Ranma strutted into the house, arm in arm with Nabiki.

"Okaeri!" Kasumi called back. Akane walked out to meet them, with Ran right behind her.

"I guess this means you won," Akane stated drolly.

"Ha, he never laid a finger on me!"

Nabiki got a mischievous look on her face a reach behind him, "Oh, and what's this?"

Ranma shot toward the ceiling with a yelp, covering the seat of his pants.

* * *

"Hi, Ran," began Akane as they met at the Tendo Dojo gates. "Did you bring a swimming suit? We'll be using the pool today in P.E."

"We are? Darn."

"Well, maybe you can wear mine," Akane lowered her gaze, "It's not like I'm going to get any use out of it."

"Why not."

"Can't swim."

"Really? Well, if we are going to be teaching each other things, I might as well teach you to swim. Let's' run over to my place and I'll get my suit."

On the way, Akane noticed someone. "Tofu-Sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, hello, Akane-chan, I could ask you the same question." He chuckled while Akane blushed. He indicated the thin book that was in the crook of one arm and the long scroll he had been frowning at. "I was consulting Shikon-Sensei on the effectiveness of certain treatments."

"Was Sensei helpful?" Ran asked.

"Ara, you must be Ran-chan!" Tofu smiled.

Ran blushed hard, "Hai." Very meek.

"Yes, she was very helpful."

"What's in the book?" Akane asked.

"Instructions for performing all the chiropractic techniques she has proven to be effective."

Akane frowned. The book was very thin. "And the scroll?"

"A list of all the ones she has proven to be harmful or effective only as a placebo." The list was very long.

* * *

"It's too bad Sensei was already gone when we got there. I would have like to introduce you to her."

"That's okay. We were really only there for your swimsuit."

Ran and Akane walked along silently for a while. Then:

"Akane? That doctor, you like him, don't you."

"Well..."

"Its okay, I won't tell anyone if it makes you uncomfortable."

"That's ok. I know it won't work. He really only sees me as a child, and...and there is someone else that he likes."

More silence.

"Well, there is the school. You'd better hang back."

"Okay, if that's what you want. I wouldn't mind, you know, if you wanted me to help."

Now at the school gate, Akane turn around to look at Ran, not knowing what to say, "I..."

"Akane and Ran are both here!" "Ran, don't come any closer, they all want to beat you!"

Akane's eyes narrowed, while Ran's eyes widened. "Too late now Ran, their after you too."

With that a wall of humanity descended upon them, bristling with sports equipment turned to weapons. Shouting their undying love for one of the two girls, or, sometime both, the boys of Furinkan High tried yet again to show their love for one girl, or tried for a first time for another. An effort which was even more doomed to failure than the effort to simply beat them.

When it was over, Akane turned back to Ran, "Sorry for getting you into this."

"Oh? I got the impression that it was more my fault than yours."

"How's that?"

"I showed up."

"Oh."

"I can't believe you go through this every morning."

"Truly. Such a boorish lot." Kuno. "Evidently, each one intends to ask you, Tendo Akane, or you Shikon Ran, out on the daw- urk!"

The blows landed almost simultaneously. The kick Akane directed at Kuno's head would probably be considered fair by most, and was very much appreciated by the boys who happened to be standing behind Kuno. The knee Ran directed at a much lower portion of his body, would probably be considered a foul, and could really only appreciated by those who had reason to dislike Kuno. As it was the student body of Furinkan that was watching, Ran's blow received more appreciation.

* * *

"You're serious; you really thought people swam by breathing water?"

"Well, it seemed like what everyone else was doing."

"Okay, first lesson: breathing water is called drowning." Ran looked around. She and Akane were in a quiet corner of the school pool. At the diving board, Ranma was getting ready to jump. "Well, I guess this is good enough. The idea is to take a breath of air, dunk your head under water, blow the air out, and come back up for more air without taking in any water."

"You mean like this?" Akane proceeded to do as told, but then stood suddenly out of the water.

"Gaahh!" Ran shouted, finding herself staring at the waterlogged cat that was now beached on Akane's head. Akane rubbed the water out of her eyes as Ran backed away from her in the water. Holding the bedraggled cat by the scruff of its neck, Akane made her way to the side of the pool.

"What are you doing here, Shampoo?" Akane asked with a frown. "Did you want to see Ranma but forget about what happens when you get wet?"

"That's Shampoo?" Akane nodded to Ran. "She has a curse too?" Another nod.

Akane noticed that Ran was staring balefully at the cat in question. "Ran, do you have something against Shampoo?"

"Don't you?"

"Maybe a little. But Nabiki is my sister, not yours."

Ran shrugged. "Its not against Shampoo specifically, I just don't like cats. I sort of had a bad experience with them as a kid."

Akane looked back at the cat coughing up water by the poolside. "Then lets get her some water. She's probably here to see Ranma."

* * *

"There's really a cure?" Ranma asked excitedly of a towel clad and human Shampoo.

"Hai, great-grandmother have cure for arien's...problem."

"Then I am gone!" Ranma declared, starting to march off.

"Ranma, wait!" Akane grabbed Ranma's hand, halting his progress. "Shampoo, why are you telling us this?"

"You want Ranma keep problem? He no good as husband until cured."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

* * *

"Can you feel it?" Ran was sitting cross-legged, with her hands up face-forward before her, watching Akane, who was seated similarly facing Ran on the dojo floor with her eyes closed.

"That's amazing," Akane opened her eyes, "That's really your ki?"

"Hai. Soon you should be able to sense ki without my help." Akane stood up and pulled at the collar of her gi. "I don't know about you, but I'm still all sweaty and sticky from our sparring. Do you want to take a bath before you go home?"

"That would be nice." Ran frowned as they walked to the house, "Maybe I should bring a set of clothes with me from now on."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't really like school uniforms. Usually, I'd go home and change into more comfortable clothes right after school. Although the gi you let me borrow isn't so bad."

In the house Ran and Akane found Nabiki and Kasumi. "Akane?" the oldest sister started, "Father will be returning shortly with the Saotomes."

"Okay. Ran and I are going to take a bath."

Ran suddenly got a puzzled look on her face. As Akane lead her into the changing room outside the furo, the look took on a more panicked nature.

"Eep!" Akane stopped taking off her gi and looked to find a rather stiff looking Ran facing away from her. "Ano, Akane, can we, you know, bathe separately?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You're embarrassed?"

"Something like that."

"Ah, so," Akane retied her gi. "Then, since you're a guest, why don't you go first. I'll wait until you are done." With that, Akane walked back to where her sisters were talking.

"Oi, Akane, Kasumi was telling me about your friend Ran."

Akane looked down and scratched her head, "Oh? What about?"

"Not much, actually. So, if I'm not mistaken, she is the new girl who beat Kuno-chan. Is he really trying to date both of you?"

"Looks like it. This morning the boys attacked both of us."

"Yeah, I saw. Kuno-chan can be such an idiot. Maybe it's time to come up with another plan to get him off your back."

"I don't know, your last one didn't work so well."

"Not my fault. Who knew he would actually like pictures of you breaking bricks? At least I made a little money off of it."

"Was that supposed to cheer me up?"

"Whatever. Oi, did you notice how much your new friend looks like Nodoka-obasama?"

Akane looked thoughtful. "Now that you mention it, they do look a lot alike." *I wonder if that is why Ran is here. Is she related to Saotome-san?*

Nabiki let out a sudden excited squeal, "Oh, I have just the most wonderful idea!"

Akane had just enough time to bathe and put on some nice clothes before her father brought back Saotome Genma and Nodoka, Ranma's parents. As Kasumi lead the three in, Nodoka looked around. Though a mother and in her middle years, Nodoka had a youthful, unlined face that made her seem more like a woman in her early twenties. Her cheerful and innocent demeanor on reinforced this impression. *The more I think about it, the harder I find it to believe that she would have held Genma to that silly contract. Even harder to believe she could have gone through with being their second. Especially considering how clumsy she is with swords.*

"Kasumi-chan, where is Nabiki-chan? I would like to speak with her." Nodoka's voice was sweet and polite as always.

"Ara, I believe she is still helping Akane's friend get dressed."

"Nabiki is letting someone borrow her clothes?" Akane was surprised.

"I think it has to do with that idea she had."

"Ah, so. That makes sense."

"Oh, how wonderful!" Nodoka gushed. "It's so nice to see you getting along with your friends, Akane. Especially with all of that nasty business at school." Akane was saved from trying to respond to that by Nabiki's entrance from the stairs.

"Nodoka-obasama, you're here! Oh, Oh, I can't wait until you all see this!" She turned to call up the stairway. "Ran-chan, she's here! You can come down now!"

"Hai." Ran's response was weak and tentative.

As Ran made her way down the stairs, head down and blushing dark red, Akane could only stare. She looked at Nodoka, then back at Ran. *Unbelievable.* The others in the room were also looking, wide eyed, back and forth. Nabiki was grinning from ear to ear.

"See, what did I tell you? Dress her up in a kimono and give her the proper hair still and she looks just like a smaller version of Nodoka-obasama!" This pretty much summed it up. Ran was dressed in exact imitation of Nodoka, with her hair braided up just as Nodoka's was.

Akane thought of something. "Obasama, you wouldn't happen to have any long lost relatives, would you?"

"Oh dear, no, Akane-chan. Now that my husband and son are back, everyone is accounted for."

Nabiki broke in, "Ah, too bad. I was hoping that maybe she was a long lost daughter or something. She tells me she lost her family when she was young." Akane saw Ran twitch at that. Nabiki was good at prying things out of people.

"Ara, how awful. I suppose I could look on the family registry."

"That's all right, Saotome-san. I'm sure I'm not a missing cousin or yours."

"You poor dear," Nodoka said, approaching the downcast Ran and wrapping her in a comforting hug, "who takes care of you if you have no parents."

Ran looked slowly up into Nodoka's face. To Akane, she seemed suddenly hesitant and trembling. "She stays with her Sensei, Nodoka-obasama." Akane answered for Ran

.

"Oh. Does your Sensei take good care of you, Ran-chan?"

"Hai."

"Well, if you ever get lonely, you come and see me." Nodoka sighed, then smiled down at Ran. "I never had a daughter, and I would love to stand in for your mother, if you like."

Ran sniffed. "Hai, Okaasan." Very quietly, Ran's arms came up to return the hug.

Nodoka patted Ran as they separated, and then turned to Nabiki. "Now that we are done with your little surprise, Nabiki-chan, can you tell me where my son has gone to? The school called to say he had missed his afternoon classes."

Nabiki waved her hand in dismissal, "Oh, that. Ranma is trying to get the cure for that `problem' he won't tell us about. Apparently Shampoo's grandmother has is, so he went to her restaurant to..."

Akane tuned out the conversation as she realized Ran was standing stock still, not moving from the place Nodoka had left her. *She looks like she's crying.* Ran's quaking shoulders seemed to indicate that she was trying to hide her sobs. Akane moved to position herself between Ran and the rest of the occupants in the room. *No point in letting her be embarrassed by this. But I do think there is something going on here I don't understand.*

* * *

"There! You see! You see! I did it! The Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire technique! Ha, ha, take that, you old ghoul!"

"You spent a whole week balancing half a dozen bowls of ramen at once so you could snatch chestnuts out of a fire?" Obviously, Ran, walking by with Akane after one of their joint kempo/ki practice sessions, was a great deal less impressed by the feat than Ranma was. Akane stopped, and, with a rather innocent expression dumped some more chestnuts into the fire that was burning in the Tendo yard.

"You don't understand. Now that I have mastered this technique, I'll be able to beat that old ghoul and get my cure!"

"I still say you are being silly. It's not really all that hard to pull chestnuts out of a fire without getting burned. Look, watch Akane."

Ranma's eyes tracked over to where Akane was crouching in front of the fire staring into it intently. Soon, she reached one hand into the flame, and gingerly plucked up the roasted chestnuts. When she had them all, she removed her hand from the flame, dropped the chestnuts, and held the hand up for Ranma's inspection. Unlike his hands, hers wasn't even reddened from the heat.

"How...how did you do that?!"

"Oh, just a trick Ran taught me."

"Argh! Never mind! You're not doing it right anyway. Being able to snatch the chestnuts fast enough that I don't get burned means that I am fast enough to steal the cure that the old ghoul wears around her neck!"

"That's nice, Ranma," Nabiki said from the porch, "but now its time to get ready to go to the fair."

"But I have to..."

"Don't worry about it. The Nekohenten is closed anyway. Shampoo is supposed to be running a haunted house, so her grandmother is probably there with her."

Ranma struck a pose. "Then to the Fair it is!"

* * *

"Thanks for inviting me to come along with you. This is fun!" Ran and Akane were both dressed in kimonos, and were holding a variety of fair toys and candy.

"Are you sure it isn't just that you are winning all the games?" Akane gave Ran a look. "You're cheating, aren't you?"

"Who's cheating? Just because I have a few unusual skills doesn't mean I have to hold back. Besides, fair games are there to rip customers off by convincing them that they can win. It just so happens I can. Win, that is."

Their conversation was interrupted by a sound. On a booth top above Ran and Akane, Shampoo's grandmother was calmly watching Ranma, mouth open in a panicked yell and arms cartwheeling helplessly in the air, as he plummeted face first past her. "Too slow, boy, too slow!" she cackled.

"Just kidding." Ranma miraculously righted himself and landed safely. The old woman stopped laughing. "And what's this?" He held up a large pendent by its chain.

"Agh! The pill! How...how..."

"I just pop this, and I'll be all cured" Ranma pulled a pill from the pendent and moved to swallow it. "Heh. Looks like a candy drop!"

"It is a candy drop. I changed the contents just in case." Ranma fell over. "So, you finally mastered the `Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' technique, eh? You're the man for Shampoo all right!"

"Why you sneaky old ghoul, come back here!" Ranma ran after the old woman down the street.

Akane and Ran looked at the retreating forms, faces twitching.

"Akane, how exactly did Ranma get mixed up with these amazons? You said Ranma beat Shampoo, but the amazons don't usually leave their village."

"That's Ranma's, or rather, his father's fault. They were in China over the summer on a training trip, and passed through Shampoo's village. Mr. Saotome was a panda at the time, and ate the food that was the first place prize of a tournament Shampoo won. She ended up chasing out of China. A while after the Saotomes showed up and Nabiki was engaged to Ranma, Shampoo found them and tried to kill Mr. Saotome. Ranma stopped her, knocking her out in the process..."

"And when she woke up she declared him her husband, right?" Ran shook her head. "Its probably a good thing you didn't try to stop her-she would have been out for your blood."

Akane winced at the thought. "Anyway, she caused a lot of trouble, and Nabiki was eventually able to arrange for her to be deported. Shampoo went back home, fell in the spring of drowned cat, and came back with her great grandmother, all legally. Now they are trying to steal Ranma from Nabiki."

"Isn't that an arranged engagement? You said Ranma picked Nabiki, but how does she feel about it?"

"Actually, it was more Nabiki deciding she wanted Ranma than the other way around. They seem to like each other, and they did agree to get married eventually, which is probably the only thing keeping our fathers from forcing a wedding right now."

Ran looked thoughtful, as she stared in the direction Ranma and the old woman had left.

"Thanks for inviting me to the beach with you." Ran and Akane were in their swimsuits, walking down a beach packed with people.

"Well, I just thought I would be bored if you weren't here. Everything is so much more fun when you're around, Ran," Akane's open enthusiasm made Ran blush. "Besides, this is the first time I'll actually be able to swim in the ocean, and, since you taught me, I wouldn't want you to miss that."

Ran scratched the back of her head. "Hai, heh, heh. Anyway, Sensei should be here soon, so you will finally get to meet her."

"I'm looking forward to..."

"It's a race! It's an art! It's a war!" An announcer interrupted the conversation, promoting the martial are melon splitting competition set up a short ways down the beach loudly over a sound system. "The rules are simple..."

"Ne, Akane, are you feeling competitive?"

"No, not really..."

"...and the prize," the announcer continued, "is Miss Shampoo!"

"...no, definitely not," Akane finished.

"Okay, we'll just watch then. Wait a minute. What is that Shampoo is holding?"

Looking closer, Akane could see what Ran was talking about. "Isn't that the pendent that was supposed to hold Ranma's cure?"

"Looks like it. And there's Ranma, entering the race, I presume. Nabiki is not going to like this, is she."

"No, no, no!" Ranma was shouting as Shampoo glomped onto him.

"Probably not, but it's my father I'm more worried about. He tends to overreact. Nabiki is more reasonable about things."

Sure enough, soon after the race had started, and Ranma was fighting with Shampoo's great grandmother, he was attacked by both Soun and Genma.

"Ara, I wish my dear Genma wasn't so hard on my son," Nodoka, dressed in a conservative swimsuit, of course, frowned. "And I do wish he wouldn't go around as a panda so much."

"I'm sure he has very good reasons, Nodoka-obasama," Kasumi rationalized. "We are at the ocean, and that is an awful lot of cold water just waiting to splash him."

"Still, don't you think it more than a bit degrading?"

"Don't worry, Nodoka-obasama," Nabiki cut in, obviously in a bad mood, "from what Ranma what has told me about your husband, I don't think it's possible for him to be further degraded."

As the competition continued, it came down to just Ranma and the old woman, standing before the finish line. With a flurry of motion, they burst each other's watermelons simultaneously, and kept on fighting. Suddenly, Ranma managed to disarm the old woman, spinning her staff into the air with his wooden sword, and catching it between his toes. The old woman looked intimidated.

"That's strange," Akane said to Ran, "He shouldn't be able to beat that old lady so easily."

"Do you think she is up to something?"

Their suspicions were confirmed when, after securing a promise to marry Shampoo if he lost, the old woman easily through him to the ground.

"Ranma you baka!" Nabiki shouted. "Baka, baka, baka, baka..."

"I think you've made your point, Nabiki," Kasumi said, her hand raised daintily to her face.

"Ooh, when I get my hands on that boy, we're going to have a very long talk about..."

"Fidelity and sensitivity?"

"No, deal making and bartering skills. I can't believe he let himself get suckered into that!"

Everyone gave Nabiki an odd look. Meanwhile, the old woman had thrown Ranma into the sea. She somehow created a waterspout, in which she was trying to strangle Ranma with her staff. Ranma broke the staff and sent the old woman flying. Everyone on the beach was shocked when she landed lightly, seeming to walk on the water. Soun started to make some comment about martial artists finding purchase on a stick, when Ran shouted.

"Ranma, watch out, she's standing on a shark!"

"Nani?!" the boy hollered back as he treaded water. Then everyone say as the shark the old woman was standing on jumped out of the water and dived at Ranma, who was promptly blasted back by a large stream of water. The old woman and shark dived, and Ranma was sent flying out of the water by another blast.

"No! He'll be killed! We have to stop them!"

"Akane, wait!" Ran grabbed Akane, keeping her from running to the rescue. "Look."

Akane saw a white-haired woman walking swiftly toward the combatants. She wore an elegant swimsuit, one with a patterned wrap tied around her hips. Akane was a little surprised at the woman's face; it seemed both old and young at the same time. "Who is that?"

"Sensei," Ran answered, a bit of awe showing in her voice and face.

"That's your Sensei?"

"Hai."

"What is she going to do?"

"Just watch."

As Shikon-Sensei approached the place on the beach adjacent to the fight, her calls stopped both.

"What language is she speaking, it sounds like..." Akane asked.

"Chinese," Ran responded.

"You understand?"

"Sure. Traveling with Sensei I learned Mandarin and Cantonese. I also speak English better than, our English teacher, but you already knew that."

"Stop bragging and tell us what she is saying!"

"Well, she's telling Cologne..."

"Hey! How she know great grandmother real name?" Shampoo chimed in.

"...as I was saying, she is telling Cologne that she can't be so...rash here in Japan."

"That's it? She is certainly saying a lot."

"She's being rather explicit. I didn't think you needed the details."

"What's Cologne saying?"

Ran listened for a bit, "She's agreeing, sort of."

The old woman in question turned her attention from Shikon-Sensei to them, and, specifically, Shampoo. "Alright Shampoo, you can give muko-dono his cure now." With a squeal of glee, Shampoo ran out to Ranma with the pendent in her hand, completely forgetting a particular complication. Ranma picked up the resulting cat out of the surf, disentangled the pendent from her, and quickly ate the pill it contained.

"Well, well, muko-dono," Cologne said, taking the wet Shampoo from Ranma. "Looks like you have someone looking out for you. Ah, well, I haven't had this much fun in decades. Train hard, young one; I'm not done with you yet, even if I have been convinced to show a bit more constraint. We'll meet again!" With that, Cologne bounced off.

Akane noticed Ran's Sensei walking up to her. "So, you must be Akane-chan. Ran-chan has told me a lot about you." The older woman smiled gently. Akane could see why she thought Shikon-Sensei looked both old and young; the woman had an unlined, youthful face, but her expression indicated the wisdom of years. She seemed a little distant, but still warm and kind none the less.

Akane bowed politely. "Ran has spoken about you, as well, Shikon-Sensei."

"I'm glad you two have become friends. You have a fiery spirit and a lot of potential."

Akane blushed. "Arigatoo gozaimasu."

"Ran-chan tells me that you are teaching each other." Akane and Ran nodded. "Well, there is not much I can help you with that Ran-chan can't. She is really a much better teacher than I am at these kind of things." Now it was Ran's turn to blush at the praise. Then Shikon-Sensei leaned in to whisper conspiratorially with Akane, "I can tell she has been missing the martial arts. She must be having a lot of fun sparring with you." Leaning back, she addressed them both. "Well, it is a beautiful day, and this is a wonderful beach, so you two should run along and enjoy yourselves, ne?"

"Hai!" both chorused, and ran off. After a several meters, Akane came to a halt.

"Ran? Where are we going?"

"I have no idea."

"Then why did we run off like that?"

"Sensei," Ranma shrugged. "People just have a tendency to do what she says without thinking."

"Oh. Ran? Why did she say I have a lot of potential. She just met me. And what did she mean by `fiery spirit?'"

"Oh, that. She was just reading your ki, like we've been doing. Yours tends toward fire, or warmth."

"Oh. Does that explain why I have such a hard time swimming?"

"The would be a nice excuse, but it doesn't work that way. You just never tried before now."

"Oh."

* * *

"Its nice getting out to do something different."

Ran and Akane were walking back home after an afternoon of tennis.

"Hai, sometimes," Akane responded. "Did you know that Ranma and his father are going on a short training journey soon?"

"No. They are? Why do you mention it? Do you want to go with them?"

"Actually, I was sort of wondering if you wanted to. You know, go on the trip with me."

Ran smiled. "Sounds fun. Say, do you know how to cook? Someone has to cook when you go camping, you know."

"Well, I..."

"Let me guess. You've never tried before, like swimming."

Akane scratched the back of her head, "Well, heh, heh."

"That's all right. I can teach you how. Or at least some. I'm really not that great a cook."

The two rounded a corner into a small park, "I guess it would be a good idea to-Oh, hey! Ryoga is back."

The boy in question was in the process of falling into a water fountain. Ranma, standing beside him and carrying an eel, quickly caught him with his free hand. By the nose. This left Ryoga bent double, his feet on the edge of the fountain and his head between his knees, with his arms waving wildly at his sides.

"Ryoga? Who's Ryoga?" but Akane was already walking over the boys, and missed Ran's question.

"Are you two fighting again? I mean, really..."

"What am I supposed to do?" Ranma shot back. "Ryoga keeps attacking me."

Ryoga's face turned red. With a shout, "Dow you will bay!" and his nose still held between Ranma's fingers, Ryoga shot a foot upward in an attempt to kick his tormentor. He missed.

"Ungrateful jerk!" Ranma responded by braiding Ryoga's limbs into a painful looking knot. Now all of Ryoga's weight was supported by the grip on his nose. Turning to Akane, he said, "By the way, have you found your little pet piggy yet?"

"P-chan..?" Akane looked thoughtful.

"P-chan? Who is P-chan?" Ran, standing behind Akane, found herself lost without a road map.

"Well, I have been looking for him, but, what makes you ask?"

"You wanna see him?" Ranma said, letting go of Ryoga's nose. Ryoga panicked, but Ranma caught him with his foot. Looking at Ryoga, he said "Just kidding."

Seeing Ryoga, helpless and shaking in fear, she did the only thing she could under the circumstances. She quickly walked over, grabbed Ryoga to safety, and kicked Ranma way, shouting, "Stop picking on Ryoga!"

"Ano..." commented Ran. She looked down at the poor boy that Akane had just saved

.

"Who's picking on who!" retorted Ranma. Akane threw her racket at him.

"Ooh, Ranma is such a jerk!" Akane turned back to Ryoga. "He should have taken it easy on you." Ran watched as Akane tried unsuccessfully the untie the human knot that Ryoga had become. "Anyway, Ryoga, I think it'd be better if you didn't challenge Ranma anymore. He doesn't know it, but from all of those fights with Cologne, he's gotten much stronger and faster. So you'd be better off..."

"I won't have it!" Ryoga screamed as he broke from Akane's grasp and ran away, still hunched over and tangled.

"What...Ryoga?"

"Ano, Akane, what was that about?"

* * *

"So, this Ryoga guy helped you out when you had to fight Kuno's sister and that skater pair, but he is always fighting Ranma and causing property damage."

"He also wasn't very helpful when Shampoo showed up. He kept trying to splash Mr. Saotome with cold water so Shampoo would attack him. But I hate the way Ranma's always picking on him. Oh, here we are. Tadaima!" Akane and Ran walked into the Tendo home. They found Soun and Kasumi talking to a rather disgusted looking Nabiki.

"Nabiki, you must accompany Ranma on his training journey and take care of the cooking," Soun was saying.

"It will be good training for when you are married, Nabiki," added Kasumi.

"Yeah, right," Nabiki huffed.

"Don't worry, oneesan, Ran and I have decided to come along. We'll keep you company," Akane reassured her sister. She and Ran smiled cheerfully at Nabiki.

"Oh, wonderful," muttered Nabiki, "just wonderful."

* * *

"And there you go-campfire rice," Ran said to Akane, scooping rice into their bowls. "Do you think you can do it next time?"

"I guess so. It does seem pretty simple. I thought cooking involved putting a whole bunch of ingredients in something mixing them up."

"Ugh. Well, some really complicated dishes sort of look like that, but it takes a long time to learn how to cook those right, and they all have big recipes that need to be followed exactly. I just content myself with the basic stuff and leave the rest to restaurants."

"Well, okay. I'll try to master the simple stuff first, then."

"I can't think of anything simpler than rice!" Ran said with a smile. She looked over to the campfire where Nabiki was preparing a meal for Ranma, Genma and herself. "Oi, Nabiki, what are you making?"

"Instant ramen."

"Okay, maybe I can think of one thing."

Soon Ranma and Genma came into the camp and sat down near the campfire. "Man, I'm starved! What's for dinner?"

A very grumpy Nabiki answered, "Instant ramen."

Genma scratched his head under his bandana. "Fine, fine. But isn't that sort of expensive?"

"Sure it is. But I, unlike some others I could name, work to get money, so that I don't have to do silly things like cook! And you better appreciate the money I spent to keep you vacuum cleaners fed on this trip!"

"Hai!" both men said sheepishly, shying away from the terrible apparition that was Nabiki.

Eventually dinner was done, and it was time to clean up. Ranma and Genma, predictably, ran off to do more training. "Ran, we still have some rice left over. What should we do with it?" Ran was about to answer when a call came from outside the camp.

"Akane-san, is that you?"

"Ryoga?"

"Akane-san, it is you!" Ryoga gushed as he stumbled into the camp.

Akane looked down at the extra rice, and shrugged. "Ne, Ryoga, have you eaten yet? We have some extra rice if you want it."

"Akane! You cooked? And you're offering some to me?" Ryoga seemed lost in a daze.

"Ano, sort of. Here." Akane handed a bowl with the extra rice to Ryoga, who took it gently and ate it as if he was savoring every bite. *Wow, he must have been really hungry.*

Ran had sort of a twisted frown on her face, "Actually, it was mostly me that made it. Akane is still learning. But you can have the leftovers, if you want."

Akane blinked at Ran. *Oro? Why is Ran acting so weird? Does she not like Ryoga? She doesn't even know him. And she didn't have to rub it in about my cooking.*

"Ha! Only fool like you would moon over the cooking of an un-cute tomboy, Ryoga!" Ranma taunted from a branch above the camp.

"Hey, who are you calling un-cute!?" Ran and Akane shouted back simultaneously.

Ryoga broke his chopsticks. "I will not sit quietly and listen to this."

"Huh? You picking a fight? I don't like picking on weaker guys, you know."

"Weaker..? Why you!"

Suddenly Cologne jumped into camp, and with a blurred swipe of her cane, knocked Ryoga out. "The fight will be in one week," she said, "Just wait, muko-dono, you will have a formidable opponent!" With that, she picked up Ryoga and left.

For a moment, Akane looked like she wanted to follow.

"What?" Ran asked.

"I'm just worried. I guess it's not a big deal. Ryoga can take care of himself."

* * *

"Hyaaaa!" Ryoga yelled as he hurtled forward, suspended from a tree in a rope harness with a single finger stretched out in front of him. With a loud impact, he crumpled against the incoming bolder, which had swung toward him, also suspended from a tree.

"Ouch, that's got to hurt," offered Ran. Akane winced beside her.

"How many times must I tell you?!" shouted Cologne, "You have to hit the breaking point!" She then tapped the bolder, which she was standing on, and it exploded, sending shards streaming everywhere.

Akane and Ran looked on wide-eyed. "Akane, did you see that?"

"Yeah."

"Think you can repeat it?"

"Maybe. Give me a minute," Akane said as she walked over to a boulder that was sitting nearby. "Lets see, push my awareness into it..." she stood in front of the rock, "...find the faults...there..." she traced a finger across it's surface, "...push in just enough...not too much, don't want it exploding in my face...just a little more and..." With a loud crack, the boulder suddenly crumbled into gravel. "Well, that was nice."

Akane looked up to find Cologne and Ryoga staring at her with disbelieving eyes. Ran was grinning like a madwoman. "Did I do something wrong? I didn't make it explode, but that's just a matter of how much power you use. Why are you two looking at me like that?"

"Waaaah! I've spent two days smashing myself into boulders to learn a technique Akane learned in two seconds! I'm worthless. I'm scum. I...Waaaah!" Ryoga had apparently reached his breaking point.

Akane winced. "Gee, Ran, maybe we should have gone somewhere else before trying it."

"Oh, come on. I know you like to show off. Admit it!"

"Well, maybe a little," Akane put her hands behind her back and scuffed her feet.

"I'll bet! Ha, ha, ha, Gagh!" Ran's laugh cut off abruptly as Cologne seemingly appeared in front of her.

"You. You must be Shikon's student," Cologne's eyes narrowed. "I though her current student was male."

Ran paused a bit before answering, and then pulled her collar down to expose some of her cleavage. "Oi! Do I look like a boy to you?"

"Humph. Indeed. Well, regardless, I will have to ask you two to leave me alone with me pupil. Your presence is disturbing his training." In the background, Ryoga was sobbing in self pity.

"All right, all right, we're leaving. Come on, Akane. Let's get some training in ourselves."

* * *

"You know, living in Tokyo, I don't get a chance to see the stars much." It was night, Akane and Ran had moved their camp a bit away from where the others were camped, mostly to get away from Ranma and Nabiki's squabbling. They were lying with their heads next to each other and their bodies pointed in different directions.

"When you travel a lot like I do, a lot of times the only constants are the son and stars. And Sensei, of course."

Akane had quick flash of panic. "Ran, you're not going to leave again, soon, are you?"

Ran turned her head to look at Akane. "What do you mean?"

"You know, continue on your journey to find strange and unusual things, and I'll never see you again." Akane was actually sort of surprised at how sad that made her feel.

"What? No, no. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. If Sensei left I suppose I could arrange to stay somehow."

"Your Sensei would let you stay?" The idea of Ran made Akane feel strangely happy.

"Sure. She has been not-so-subtlety suggesting I find my own life, not always think of myself as just her student. Besides, I have this strange feeling that if we hang around Nerima, those strange and unusual things will find us."

* * *

Akane was not happy. She was also rather uncomfortable. Of course, lack of comfort is to be expected when one has her hands tied behind her back and is suspended by a rope several meters off the ground. Akane had resorted to glaring silently at the shriveled old woman responsible for her predicament. There was a good reason for this course of action: with Nabiki tied up similarly back-to-back with Akane, it was nearly impossible to get a word in edgewise.

"You get me down this instant! I'll have you deported. I'll get every agency in Japan on your back. I'll sue! You hear me! Get me down!"

Oblivious to Nabiki's ranting, Ryoga faced his hated rival. "I have waited for this day, Ranma!"

Ranma made no response. Neither did Genma, but then, he was a panda at the time, so it was to be expected. Nabiki, however made plenty, "What's the big idea!"

Cologne pause to look up at the two captives hanging from the tree, "I just thought the fight would be better if there was a prize at stake."

"Prize!" both sisters were rather indignant on this distinction.

Ranma and Ryoga, ignoring such distractions, faced each other, "Prepare to die!"

"Ano..." ventured Akane.

"Moshimoshi..." tried Nabiki.

"Now, Ranma!" Ryoga lunged forward, and the fight began.

"Stupid old hag! Akane!" Akane looked up to see Ran, a bit worse for ware, running toward her and Nabiki. "Get ready, I'm going to cut you down!"

"Nabiki," Akane said quickly to her sister, "hold tight and try not to move. Ran's going to cut the rope."

"She's going to what?!"

Just then Ran sprang off the tree bowl and made a single swipe at the rope with her bare hand. Cologne's attention was suddenly diverted from the fight as the rope went slack and the two sisters fell to the ground. Akane twisted so that the shrieking Nabiki was above her, and concentrated. Just before she hit the ground, a great wind seemed to come up around the two of them, and Akane touched down gently to the ground. Nabiki blinked in surprise as she was lowered to the ground. Ran came up between them, and, with a quick motion and a tearing sound, the arms of both girls were free.

"Come on, its not safe here!" Ran hissed. And it wasn't. As the three left the area of the battle, the battlefield itself was being torn apart by Ryoga's use of the breaking point technique. Ranma kicked Ryoga into a cliff wall, causing rocks to fall over the lost boy, but he only burst out again to complain that Ranma's kick felt like it came from a baby.

Something occurred to Akane. "All of that smashing into rocks..."

Ran seemed to catch on. "...it was to make him tougher!"

"What now muko-dono?" Cologne taunted. "Can you defeat Ryoga now...?"

"Old ghoul! I can take him any time! I've trained, too!"

Now even Nabiki seemed to catch on. "But all Ranma did all week was practice dodging."

"Why would he do that?" Ran ask, puzzled.

"So he wouldn't get blown to pieces by the breaking point technique!"

"That's silly. You can't use that on people," Akane said. "They're too soft! Right?"

"I think so. At least I wouldn't know how to go about it. Even bones are too flexible..."

"I didn't want to have to use this, Ryoga!" Ranma was saying. "The Saotome Secret Technique!"

"Saotome Secret Technique?" all three girls repeated in unison.

"Face opponent, and...," Ranma said as he closed with Ryoga. "...Fast Break!"

And Ranma proceeded to run into the woods.

The silence he left behind was thick. "That was the Saotome Secret Technique?!" The panda sagely nodded.

"Come back here, you coward!" Ryoga gave chase.

Akane stomped over to the panda. "...running away to think of a way to attack your opponent?"

The panda held up a sign, "Bingo!"

"What kind of technique is that?!"

Another sign, "Hey, its harder than it looks!"

"A retreat is a sound tactic," began Ran, "but I would hardly call it a secret technique. Unless you were embarrassed to let others know that you would do it."

"Forget about it. We need to catch up with them," called Nabiki as she ran after Ryoga. When the five of them found Ranma and Ryoga, the two were exchanging blows again. However, Ranma's blows looked odd, and Ryoga looked injured.

"Oro? What is Ranma doing? I thought he couldn't hurt Ryoga," Nabiki said confused.

Akane look closely at what Ranma was doing. "Each time he attacks, he's not hitting once, but many times in the same place. I guess its getting through to Ryoga."

"So, the speed training I gave muko-dono pays off for him now!" As Cologne said this, Ranma knocked Ryoga back into a tree. "The longer this fight lasts, the more certain muko-dono is to lose."

"What?" Akane was startled by that.

"But Ranma already won!" Nabiki's pronouncement was belied when Ryoga got back up.

Ryoga and Ranma went back to fighting again. Eventually, Ranma seemed to fall down. As Ryoga jumped on top of him to explode the rock at Ranma's back, Ranma rolled so that it was Ryoga that took the force of the blast. Ranma then added his own attack, push Ryoga back down. Ryoga finally passed out, but the cliff the two had been fighting on was sliding into the river, and the two fighters followed after it.

* * *

"...It's about P-chan." Ryoga, in pig form, was snoozing in Akane's room, waiting for Akane to get back from school. His ears perked up when he heard Akane.

"That's the pet pig you told me about, right? The one that keeps running away?" Ran's voice.

"Hai. He showed up last night, and he seemed to `feel' funny."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, since you've taught me how to sense ki, I've sort of got a feel for how much things should have. Ranma has a lot, and so does his father and Cologne. You and Shikon-Sensei practically glow. Small animals don't have a lot. Usually. But P-chan seems to have as much as Ranma, and I don't know why."

*She knows!* Or will soon enough. Ryoga panicked. They were right outside the door! Akane would open it, that mystic Ran would see him, and it would be all over. In a burst of speed, Ryoga zipped out the window just before Akane opened the door.

Stepping into the room, Akane looked around. "Oh, no! Where did he go now?"

"Ran away again?"

"Maybe. Sometimes he just wonders around the house. But I thought I left him in here." A quick search of the house turned up no little black pig. Disappointed, the two retreated to the dojo for their practice session.

"So, how are you coming along in isolating different ki signatures?"

"Well, I think I see a water signature in Ranma. His father seems to have both water and fire. The same with Shampoo."

"For Shampoo and Mr. Saotome, it's probably because of their curses. Jusenkyo leaves a fire and water trace."

Akane nodded. "For you I see everything. Same for Shikon- Sensei and Cologne. Dr. Tofu seems sort of earthy. Oh, and that baka Kuno has a little flame. That's about it."

"Pretty good. Your friend Ryoga was overwhelmingly earth, though I don't think you've had an opportunity recently to see it. Come to think of it, it's probably why he gets lost."

"Why would a big earth aura cause him to get lost?"

"You might say it would make his sense of direction too good, and he would unerringly find his way to whatever location or object happened to catch its attention, regardless of where Ryoga actually wants to go. Maybe. It's really just a theory."

"Actually, that sounds about right. He has this way of showing up at odd times."

"Anyway, did P-chan have a signature?"

"Oh, right! I think it was earth."

"Makes sense for a pig. Maybe P-chan is some sort of spirit beast."

"A spirit beast? P-chan?"

"I'm serious! I've seen them before. Although not that small."

Akane and Ran shared a laugh. "Anyway, lets get some practice in. What do you want to work on today?"

"Well, Ranma showed us how useful speed can be. Why don't we work on that?"

Hours later, the two reentered the house to find the Saotomes and Tendos all sitting around the table. "The women of the Saotome family tend to go through a lot of trials and tribulations," a smiling Nodoka was saying to a rather shocked looking Nabiki. "By the way, that's my favorite pillbox. Do you like it Nabiki-chan?"

"It is a nice design, Obasama," Nabiki responded. The box in question looked suspiciously like the kind of box that holds rings.

Kasumi, her hand to her face, was looking at Ranma, "Ara, so it wasn't an engagement ring after all, Ranma-kun?" Ranma, for his part was shaking like he was going to fall apart any minute.

"And you say that Shampoo and that Kuno girl destroyed the whole house?" A beaten and very battered Genma, his face to swollen to talk easily, just nodded to Soun's question. Even that looked painful.

"Nani...what happened?" Akane was a little taken back by the scene

.

"Oh, Akane-chan, where you practicing in the Dojo?" Nodoka, as always, was smiling and cheerful. "Your father has invited us to stay here with you, since Ranma's friends were playing a bit too rough and broke my house. Isn't that nice of him?"

Ran knelt with Nodoka, and, taking her hands, looked into the older woman's face. "Okaasan, are you alright."

Nodoka looked back, her eyes perhaps tearing a little, but still smiling. "I'm alright. Can't let little things get us down, can we?"

"Ano..." Akane was still lost.

"Nodoka-obasama asked Ranma to give me this pill box," Nabiki turned to Akane, "but the baka thought it was an engagement ring, and was afraid to give it too me. Then Kodachi and Shampoo got involved, all hell broke loose, and now the Saotomes will be staying with us."

"Nabiki-chan, watch your language, please."

* * *

Ryoga was wallowing. Not just because he was a pig and he was slogging through the mud. No, he was wallowing in despair. Which is probably why he didn't notice that the mud he was in really was a pig sty until an enormous snout nearly knocked him over.

"What do you have there, Katsunishiki?" Ryoga found himself snatched up by what had to be the biggest pig he had ever seen in his life, and presented to a very cute young woman. "Oh, what a cute little pig!" The enormous pig, Katsunishiki, handed Ryoga to the girl. "Let's take you inside and clean you up!"

Exhausted, Ryoga let himself be handled. He was too depressed to even worry she would cook him for diner. It wasn't until he was facing a tub of hot water that his self-preservation, or the preservation of what was left of his pride, caused him to struggle. But, by then, it was too late, and into the hot water he went. And back out he came, expanding to his full human size. Ryoga stared in horror at the sweet, innocent girl that was kneeling before him, her eyes wide.

*This is it, she'll call me a monster, a pervert and then she'll...*

"Oh, my pig-prince!" Instead she embraced him in a tight hug.

* * *

"Stupid crazy ribbon girl!" Shampoo stomped into the restaurant she called home.

Cologne looked up from the lengths of rope she was examining, "Bad day, Shampoo?"

"I look through all of airen home while crazy girl attack me with ribbon and panda man get in way. I still not find engagement ring!"

"Engagement ring? I had no idea muko-dono was so serious."

"Shampoo hear rumor that airen give engagement ring to Nabiki, but she no have, and Shampoo not find anywhere!" Shampoo stomped up to Cologne, grinding her teeth. Cologne bopped her on the head with her staff. "Ouch! What that for?"

"Calm down, Shampoo. Anger makes you stupid, and stupid people lose."

Shampoo rubbed her head. "What you do with rope?"

"It's the rope that I used to tie up the Tendo sisters before the pig-boy and muko-dono fought."

"What special about it?"

"It's not so much the rope, but how it was cut that is important."

Shampoo looked at the frayed ends of several lengths of the rope. She picked at three pieces that were no longer than the rope was thick. "Oh? What cut these?"

"Someone's bare hand."

* * *

Akane and Nabiki were watching a sight they had not had an opportunity to see in years. Kasumi, restless and fidgeting, was wandering around, trying to find something to do

.

"Kasumi, would you cut that out!"

"I'm sorry, Nabiki-chan. But...but I just don't know what to do. And I feel so bad letting a guest like Nodoka-obasama doing all the housework."

"Settle down Kasumi," Akane said, "It's her way of paying us back for letting her family live here. Look at it this way; now you have plenty of time to do whatever you want."

"But is simply don't know what to do."

"Why don't you get a job?"

Both Akane and Kasumi looked at Nabiki.

"What? It's a good idea. Not only would it give you something to do, you'd have money to spend, too."

Kasumi blinked. "Where would I find a job."

Nabiki's eyes set into her I've-got-a-plan look. She whispered something to Akane.

"Are you crazy?"

"No, listen, all we have to do is get him on a day off, and call it training."

"How is that going to help?"

"I'm sure his problem will be history if he spends a whole day with her."

"But what about Kasumi. What if he makes her, you know, uncomfortable."

"Come on now Akane, you know him better than that."

"What are you two talking about?"

Nabiki smiled. "Well, Kasumi, let me put it this way: would you like to be Tofu-Sensei's nurse?"

* * *

"Get away from me, you pervert!"

Akane and Ran looked at each other. There was a great deal of feminine shrieking coming form just around ahead. Hurrying forward they found several girls dressed in gym clothes. One apparently had a small, wrinkly...thing attached to her front, which she was trying to pound off with her fist.

Akane was the first to speak. "What's going on hear?"

"Huh? Akane!" the beleaguered girl said. "Akane?!" said another.

The shriveled little thing turned its heat and pointed at Akane. "Ohhhh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!"

Ran made a face. "Eew!"

The thing suddenly made a flying leap at Akane. "Akane! It's me! It's me!" Then it ran face first into Akane's hastily raised book bag.

Ran blinked. "Akane, do you know this, um, oi, are you really human?"

Akane looked down at what apparently was a very small and very old man clinging to her bag. "Ano, do I know you?"

"You don't remember me?"

"Well...uh..."

"Oh, boo, hoo, hoo, hoo..."

"Wait, wait. I'll try to remember!"

"Don't...don't trouble yourself about me. Just...allow me to...have a good cry in your bosom!"

"Yaaa!"

Ran intercepted the old man in the air and smashed him to the ground. "Now cut that out!"

The old man looked up at Ran. "A...Akane!"

"Gyaaa!" Ran yelled as the little man attached himself to her chest. There was a flash of light, and then the old man found himself attached to a wall. He stuck there for a long moment, and then flopped to the ground.

Standing under Ran's angry glare, the old man said, "It's no wonder you don't remember me. We've never met."

"You, you old freak!"

"Ah, your Tendo Soun's daughter, all right. So high spirited."

"You know my father?" Akane leaned forward.

The old man's eyes popped wide open, "Nani? You mean you really are Soun's daughter?!"

"I think you've got some talking to do."

* * *

"I don't like it." Ran had her face in a frown and her arms crossed as she watched Genma and Soun try to appease their old Happosai-Sensei. She watched in disgust as they offered up Ranma to be his heir.

"I don't either. But I don't see what we can do about it." Akane watched Happosai fling Ranma through the roof of the dojo. "Though I'm not sure I want to practice the family martial arts any more if he originated it."

"You don't really mean that, do you."

"No. Not really. I feel sorry for Ranma, though."

"Genma!" Nodoka walked in, a rare stern look on her face. "This is your old Sensei?" Even Happosai backed off from her sheer presence.

"Yes, dear."

Nodoka's mood abruptly changed. "How can you do this to such a sweet old man. Why, it's just shameful." Everyone looked at her with wide eyes. "Come along, dear," she said, grabbing Happosai's hand. "They really shouldn't excite you like that. And trying to get you drunk. Ara, an old man like you shouldn't be subjected to such temptations. Think of your health!" Happosai looked in helpless horror as he was lead away. "Now, we'll get you some nice healthy food and keep you away from all of those young men's things..." The old man looked like he was being lead away to his execution, but he couldn't seem to escape Nodoka's grip.

"Saotome, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it."

"You and me both, Tendo."

"Quite a woman, your wife."

"Indeed."

Nabiki walked into the dojo. "Has anyone seen Ranma?"

Ran shook herself out of her amazement, and pointed up. "Try the roof."

* * *

Akane relaxed back in the hot water of the bath. Ran sat next to her, and, like Akane and most of the other longhaired women in the bath, had her hair up to keep it from getting wet.

*This is the first time I've really seen Ran naked. I guess I should feel jealous, she's so...well developed.* Ran had been quiet since arriving at the public bath. She'd held her head down, blushing furiously and not looking at anyone. *Is Ran embarrassed about how good she looks? She has to realize how beautiful she is, right?* Akane wished she knew her friend better.

At the wall dividing the men from the women, Nabiki boosted herself up to look over. There were masculine sounds of startlement, and Nabiki said something to someone on the other side.

"Nabiki, what are you doing?!" Akane called. Ran looked up to where Nabiki was standing, and then immediately back down into the water. Akane could hear Ranma and Happosai arguing on the other side. "I knew we should have come at a different time."

"Naww, it's more fun this way."

"You have to be kidding," Ran said, hugging her knees to herself.

There were sounds of a scuffle from the men's side, and then Happosai sprung over the wall, narrowly escaping the wooden bucket that was thrown after him. "Nya, nya, can't his me!"

"Get back here, you little freak!"

"Baka," Happosai landed in the women's area, and looked around, "Girlies! Where are you Akane-chan?"

The women in the bath started screaming. Nabiki look to Ran and Akane. "Looks like its time to put on our swimsuits." Akane and Ran were way ahead of her.

"Okay, you!" Akane said, picking up Happosai by the back of his outfit.

"That voice! It is! Akane!" Happosai turned his expectant gaze…

...to see Akane dressed in a one piece swimsuit.

"Disappointed?"

"You think we'd come without swimsuits knowing you're here?" Nabiki taunted, also in a swimsuit.

Happosai now on the ground, started moping around. "Now, Happosai," Akane began, "why don't you stop pouting, and get back to the men's side!" Akane's kick sent the old man back over the wall. Where Ranma was waiting for him.

Nabiki boosted herself up to look over the wall again. "Hey, you two, come on," she called back to Ran and Akane, "aren't you going to watch the fight?" Akane and Ran climbed up next to her. On the men's side, Ranma was smashing buckets while Happosai flitted from one to the other. "Humf," Nabiki frowned, "Ranma's not getting anywhere. Hey Akane, isn't it a little early to take your swimsuit off!?" The last was said loudly.

"Oi, Nabiki, what are you saying?" Akane started, but then she saw a bucket climbing up the wall straight toward her. Ranma, of course, smashed it, but Happosai jumped out of the way and over to the women's side. Ranma tried to follow, but was met by a barrage of buckets from screaming women.

On the women's side, Happosai had disappeared. However, Ran walked directly over to a particular bucket, and, with a deliberate stomp, caved it in. Happosai was left squirming under her foot. "All right old man," she said. Happosai tried his doe eyed look, but then suddenly froze. "I've had enough of you!" she finished, slamming her palm into the old man's head.

As Ran tossed the unconscious pervert over the wall, Akane thought. *Wait, was Ran's hand glowing?*

"How long was it until the was going to be bath fixed?"

* * *

"Please, please, please, please!"

"Simply no one else can play the lead!" Two members of the acting club were trying to recruit Akane for a play.

"Don't you fools ever give up?" Akane was having none of it. Some of the girls in the room offered encouragement. It just made Akane more irritated. "I don't care! You probably want me to play Romeo or some other boy's role. Why don't you ask Ranma?!"

The two looked at her, stunned, "Romeo? Well, we don't have an actor for that role, but what we wanted to cast you as is Juliet."

"Ju...Juliet?" Akane dropped her broom and, too everyone's amazement, started piling desks in the middle of the room. She then jumped up top, and started reciting the balcony scene. "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

One of the club members snapped open a fan. "Oh, Akane! Then you will do it? You will?!"

And then Kuno was just there, reciting one of Romeo's lines from the same scene. Akane punched him in the nose. "I don't need and coaching from you, Kuno!" she said with a smile.

"But I am Romeo to your fair Juliet!"

"And who cast you, hmm?!" the club member did not seem pleased.

"I did."

"You what?!"

"I, indeed. And if one such as..."

The rest of his speech was drowned out as the whole of the morning attack squad poured into the classroom, clambering to be Romeo. It had been whittled down some, as the boys became disinterested in being beaten every morning by Ran and Akane. But still, there were at least a dozen of them, and they were mobbing the club members for the part.

With a deafening crack, Ran broke the broom she had been using clean in half. "Quiet!" That shut everyone up. Even Ranma, who had been playing cards and trying to ignore the whole mess, turned to look. "I challenge all of you. Audition fair and square for Romeo. I'll beat you all." Maybe, it was the tone of voice. Maybe it was expression on her face. Or maybe it had something to do with the visible aura she was manifesting. Regardless, Ran instantly had everyone's agreement. Although Kuno objected that she should be trying out for the part of Juliet.

* * *

"Ran?" Akane had walked silently beside Ran until they had nearly reached the gate to the Tendo home. "Why did you do that? Volunteer to play Romeo?"

"Really?" Ran paused to look at Akane. "I could see that this was important to you, and I didn't want those baka to mess it up for you."

"Oh," Akane said as they passed through to the house. "Ano, Ran? Can you beat them in auditions?"

Ran laughed. "Akane, most of those guys don't know anything about Romeo and Juliet beyond that Romeo and Juliet kiss. I've read the play in the original English, and have seen a couple versions of it performed. I may not have all of the lines memorized off hand, but I could give whoever is directing this play pointers."

The conversation ended as the two changed and moved to the dojo. As they stepped in, Happosai, who had been crouching in the center of the floor, looked up, say Ran and Akane, and ran screaming in panic.

"Ano, not that I mind the return of privacy, but that is still a little strange."

"Serves him right for trying to steel Sensei's underwear. Besides, its only temporary; I'm pretty sure his only run in fear of all things feminine for another month or so."

Akane sighed. "It's just that he looks so pathetic."

"Well, just imagine if he was around to show up today for that deal with the play."

"Ulp. And I was thinking everything had gone wrong."

"Anyway, why is it you were so adamant about not acting, and then jumped at the opportunity to play Juliet?"

"Oh, well, it's just that, when I was younger, anytime there was a play, everyone thought I would be perfect for the male, fighting parts. So I would get stuck as Romeo," Akane's eyes got distant. "Everyone would tell me how good I was, but deep down, all I wanted to do was wear a pretty dress and play Juliet. Don't you see, at long last I can wear the cloths and play the role of the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Ano, Akane...?"

"What?"

"What kind of play do you think Romeo and Juliet is?"

"Why, it's the most famous romance in the world, isn't it."

"Um, I don't want to burst your bubble, but Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy."

"Well, they do die at the end, but..."

"No, no, you're not getting it. It's a tragedy. Two silly kids raised by oblivious parents in a city full of stupidity. They take several rash actions on the spur of the moment, try to run away and hide from the consequences, and end up killing themselves for nothing. Everyone is hurt, and everyone is to blame. That's why it's a tragedy."

Akane was dumbfounded. "You...you didn't have to be so harsh."

Ran sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. That's just the way the man wrote it. If it helps any, Juliet was supposed to be beautiful, so you'll fit that part perfectly."

Akane gave Ran a small grin, "Flatterer. But thanks. What about you, though? Isn't Romeo supposed to be some big, manly fighter? How are you supposed to play a boy like that with, well, you know..."

"Heh, Heh. That's the easy part. Romeo is supposed to be a skinny bishonen. Some bindings and some loose clothing, and I'll be just perfect. And don't worry about the others. If the club decides I'm too girly, I know a guy I might be able to get to fill in."

* * *

*I have to admit, Ran was right.* Akane stood on the balcony, acting in front of a full audience. Ran had sailed through the auditions, complaining about how bad the translation was. Nabiki had even taken the precaution of having Ranma "deal" with Kuno, just in case he tried to do something stupid.

Ran looked her part. She had managed to make her body look male in her costume, and seemed slip right into male posture and mannerisms without a problem. She played her line perfectly. And then came the kiss.

Akane wasn't sure what she expected, but the surge of feeling she felt has she and Ran leaned together surprised her. After, she could feel her face flush deep red, and her heart was racing. She and Ran stade still, staring at each other for a long moment before continuing. She almost missed her next cue, and couldn't blame it all on the cheering of the audience.

When the play was over, Ran kissed Akane on the cheek, and, after a moment, Akane did the same to Ran.

* * *

"Hey, Ran, calm down, he only groped you a little."

"I'll kill the little lust ball!" Ran, in her swimsuit, was being restrained by Ranma.

"Looks like that curse thing Shikon-Sensei placed on Happosai wore off," Akane guessed.

"Ara, and it doesn't look like he has learned anything from it at all," Kasumi looked disappointed.

"Sure he has," offered Nabiki, "now he'll stay away from her and her underwear like the plague. If only the rest of us were so lucky."

Back to the beach on another vacation, Ranma had found the old lecher swiping bikinis, and had pounded Happosai when the old man had passed by. Unfortunately, this drew his attention to Ran, who had come along with Akane. Ran, being Happosai's favorite quick glomp, had been inevitably groped. Something she was understandably upset about.

"Nihao, Ranma!" the call came, of course from Shampoo. This was significant distraction to calm Ran down. Nabiki and Genma waved Shampoo, who was carrying chilled ramen, over to their spot on the beach. Once the ramen was distributed, Shampoo assumed her usual position. That is, glomped onto Ranma's side.

"Ehem," Nabiki not so subtly got Shampoo's attention. She was nonchalantly holding a bucket of cold water over Ranma's head.

"Eep!" Shampoo jumped away.

"Much as I appreciate a meal, beach kitty, my gratitude does not extend to taking liberties with my man. Now, why don't you run off, before you end up with wet fur."

"Humf. Ranma, you date with Shampoo after work?"

"Date, huh," Ranma muttered. "Wait a second, I got it!"

Nabiki blinked, "Ranma, what are you talking about?"

"Come on. Let's go find Happosai. I've got a great idea!"

"I'll believe that when I see it," but Nabiki followed anyway. Shampoo watched them go, and then went back to work.

With not much going on, Akane got an idea. "Ran? Why don't we go for a walk?"

Ran looked around, "Well, I guess its better than waiting for the old pervert to show up again."

And so they started off. Eventually, they linked hands, just as many other girls were doing. Just holding the hand of a friend as they walked down the beach. Eventually, they came to a sparsely populated space that was more rock than beach. There was a cliff face, and Ran and Akane leaned up against it. For a long time they sat together, occasionally talking about this or that, with their hips and shoulders touching, just sort of leaning against each other. It was a long, quiet, peaceful moment.

And then Ryoga fell from the cliff top to land with a thud and a grunt in front of them.

"Ryoga, are you okay?" Akane rushed over to him, concerned.

"Akane, is that you? So...everything's so dim."

"Oh snap out of it!" Ran snapped her fingers in Ryoga's face. Ryoga immediately rose to full consciousness.

"Ran, Akane! Ha, ha, funny meeting you here in Okinawa!"

Ran rolled her eyes.

"Ryoga, you've been away such a long time, I was beginning to worry about you."

"You were, Akane?" Ryoga's face lit up.

"Why wouldn't I? You're always getting lost, and people should be concerned about what happens to their friends."

"Oh, as a friend..." Ryoga's face fell again.

"So, where have you been hiding all this time," asked Ran.

"I haven't been hiding! I just, sort of, kept going back to the same place."

"Oh, and where was that?" asked Akane interested.

"Just a pi...just a farm."

Ran cocked her head. "Anything special there?"

"Wha...what do you mean?!"

"Gee, don't get so defensive. It has to do with something I've been speculating about. You have a very strong earth aura. Overwhelmingly strong. I thought it might affect your sense of direction."

Ryoga blinked, "Ano, how is that?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe if you tell us what is at this farm, we'll be able to figure it out."

"Um, well. Its a pig farm. A sumo pig farm."

"Sumo pigs?" Akane looked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I thought that was strange, too. Anyway, there is this girl there. She really loves pigs. I mean, really loves pigs. And she..."

"Yes?"

"...well she..."

"She what?"

"...well, the way she found me...I was in the pig sty...and...and..."

"Come on Ryoga, you can tell us. What is it?"

"She calls me her Pig-Prince!" Ryoga squeezed his eyes shut.

Ran and Akane looked at each other. "Well," Akane said, "he did say she loves pigs..."

"...and she did find him in a pig sty."

Ryoga looked up to see the two of them smiling at him.

"Congratulations, Ryoga!" Ran patted him on the shoulder.

"Na...nani?"

"I'm so happy for you, Ryoga!" Akane gushed. "You finally have a girlfriend!"

"What! No! It's not like that!"

Ran pounded her hand. "It makes perfect sense. From what I've heard, you kept returning to the Tendo house, where you knew you could find Ranma, your rival. Now you keep returning to where you know you will find your girlfriend. That must be it!"

"But she's not..."

"This is perfect! It must be your subconscious, using your innate aura of earth, to take over your direction sense."

"What!"

"That's why you get lost. If you learn to concentrate on were you are going, or, more precisely, if you learn to identify locations by earth ki, and concentrate on that, you shouldn't get lost!"

"I...I can learn not to get lost?"

"It might take some time, but sure!"

Akane turned to Ran, "Oh, Ran, you're the greatest." Ryoga watched in alarm as Akane hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. Ran blushed.

Akane released Ran, and looked at Ryoga. He seemed stuck in a single position, staring forward. Akane waved her hand in front of his face. "Ryoga, are you okay?"

Ryoga suddenly snapped out of his trance. "Akane! Gomen! I won't tell anybody. I...I-have-to-be-going-now-bye!"

Akane watched him leave. "What was that about?"

"I don't know. I wonder what Ranma and Nabiki are doing..."

* * *

Ran was staring thoughtfully into a sealed glass container. For all the world, it looked to be filled with plain mineral water. Shikon-Sensei was in the process of securely locking a round little pill securely into a box.

"Nasty little thing, this it," the older woman muttered as she set the box in a secure place. "One wonders who decided the world would be a better place with such things in it." She walked over to where Ran was still considering the container full of water. "Humm. Find someone for that, did you?"

Ran startled. "No, no, it's not like that! It...well maybe. But it's not time yet." Ran placed the container back in its place. "I'm just starting to understand what you mean when you say there are so many ways to live my life, but I'm not sure others will. I guess I'm a little afraid."

"Well, you are entitled to be a bit afraid. Circumstance and your own will have made you someone who breaks the rules of convention just by existing. But I'm sure you'll find a way to be

accepted. They do say love conquers all."

"Heh, heh. Sounds like something Mousse would say."

"Mousse?"

"Shampoo's boyfriend. Or, at least, that's what he wants to be. He just got back from China, and now he turns into a duck."

"Another Jusenkyo victim? Quite a lot here, don't you think?"

"Blame it on the panda. It all starts with him."

* * *

"Unbelievable," Ran stared down at the map in Akane's hand. There were exactly three objects on it: Lake Baikal, Fuji-san, and Ryoga's house. "How was it that we were supposed to find his house using this?"

"Well, we are in the right district. I think."

After walking around a while and not getting anywhere, they both bowed to the inevitable.

"We're lost. Now what do we do?"

Just then, a little black piglet squealed and jumped into Akane's arms. "P-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, so this is P-chan at last. Wow, he does have a strong earth aura!" P-chan froze and looked fearfully at Ran. "Humm. Pretty cute little guy. Nothing wrong that I can see. He must be your good luck charm!" Ran smiled down at the relieved little pig.

There was barking down the street, and a dog that was half black and half white, came racing down forward. "Oh! It's Ryoga's dog!"

"The one you saw on the TV with the puppies?"

"Hai!"

The dog, Checkers, amazingly grabbed P-chan and held him in a close embrace. "Wow, that's a...talented dog," Ran said, looking at the scene.

"Funny...why is she so happy to see P-chan?"

Suddenly, Checkers raced off, P-chan on her back.

"Wait..!"

"Come on!" Ran said, pulling Akane forward by the hand. "I'll bet she is going to Ryoga's house!"

The two ran after the dog and pig, but soon lost them. "Now which way did they go?"

A little further, and, "Akane, look. This house says `Hibiki.'"

Sure enough, Ryoga stepped out, looking newly bathed, and holding an adorable little puppy. After leading them inside, Checkers was left to entertain Akane and Ran with her puppies.

"Oh, they're so cute!"

Ran looked at the basket full panting fur-balls, "You certainly had a large litter, Checkers."

Eventually, Ryoga came back in with the tea, "Thanks for inviting us to see the puppies Ryoga." Akane said, holding one in her hand.

"Heh, heh, your welcome," Ryoga was obviously nervous.

"Ne, Ryoga, where are your parents? Are they out for the day?" Ran was a bit curious as to what kind of parents would end up with a child like Ryoga.

"Well, it looks like mom went shopping ten days ago, and isn't back yet. Dad's away on business until next summer, so he should be back around Christmas."

Ran blinked.

Ryoga pressed his fingers together, "Well, they're kind of like me, I mean, I'm like them...er...none of my family has any sense of direction."

"Oh. Must be hereditary."

Akane clapped her hands, "I just had a great idea! Now that we're here at your home, maybe Ran can show you the way to find your way back!"

Ran put a finger to her cheek, "Well, I guess it's worth a try."

* * *

"Wow, I've never been to a natural hot spring, have you, Ran?" Akane slipped into the water.

"So nice to take our time, knowing that only women are allowed," some other girls were saying as they too, entered.

"Oh, a few. Sensei likes them." Ran again had that embarrassed blush on her face.

"Be careful, though," another girl warned. "We caught a pervert peeping on us earlier."

"There's a peeping tom?!" Akane looked indignant. The other girls made sounds of disgust. Ran actually looked panicked for an instant, but then seemed to relax. "Well, if he comes back, Ran and I will take care of him!"

After a bit, Ran drifted over to the small island in the middle of the spring that had a boulder on it. Akane, on the lookout for hentai, spotted an overturned bucket moving through the water. Moving over to it, she crushed it with a vicious chop. But nothing was inside. She heard a sigh behind her, and turned to see Happosai dressed in a silly deer costume. He was soon flying out of the spring.

"Hey, Akane, take a look at this," Ran was pointing to some writing on the boulder she had been looking at. "Do you suppose there really is some `Secret Scroll' here?"

Akane joined her by the rock. "I don't know. Why don't we move the rock and see."

As Akane pushed the rock aside, Ran looked underneath it. "Well, what do you know. There is a scroll!" Ran unrolled a portion, trying to read the contents. "What is this, chicken scratch?"

* * *

"You know, one thing I like about the snow-apparently even Kuno isn't prepared to keep up the morning challenges when the school ground is covered in it." Ran, bundled up in a parka, walked into Furinkan High with Akane.

"It is a nice break, isn't it," Akane returned with a smile. In their classroom, both looked up in surprise when an explosion went off in the schoolyard. Shortly after, there was another.

"Ano, what's going on now? Is Happosai attacking Ranma with firecrackers again?"

"Doesn't sound like Happo-daikarin." Ran said with a discerning ear.

A bit after that, the P.A. system turned on, "All students report to the auditorium for an announcement from the principal."

Akane blinked. "I didn't even know that the school had a principal."

In the auditorium, the student body was faced with...

"A-looo-ha!"

...a man in a Hawaiian shirt, a lay, sunglasses, and a topknot shaped like a palm tree.

"I wen comin' back from Hawai'i, an' I say, I gotta bring a present fo' all my keiki, yeah! Bran' new School rules! All bruddas gatta get dem buzz cuts! All sistas gotta get dem bowl cuts!"

"No!" The student body was nearly unanimous. Some, after all, already had the appropriate haircut.

"Eh, don' bus' up yet! I jus' gettin' started, yeah!"

The students responded by throwing shoes and sports equipment. Then chairs. When the heavy gym equipment started flying, the principal ducked. The final object was Ranma himself, who landed on the principal and started arguing with him. The principal got up, and with a "Vwalla!" pointed to where Nabiki was tied to a broom and hanging from a rope.

"I'm getting really tired of this," she muttered. "Oi, why do I always have to be the one who gets tied up?! Why can't it be someone else for a change?!"

Akane jump-kicked the maniacally laughing headmaster.

"And you call yourself the principal?!"

"Bettah listen up now, keiki!" the held up a coconut. "Evahbody gona t'row some hands wit' me, yeah! Inside da coconut...dey like a pardon f'om de rules. Any brudda-sista get dis nut from me..."

Ranma stomped on his head and spun the coconut on his finger. "...an' uncle principal don' bodda wid no haircut or da kine no more!" There was applause.

Then the coconut exploded. "You got t'ree days fo' do it!" the principal said. "I like waitin' in my office!"

Shouting broke out, and everyone rushed around.

"Oi, oi! Will somebody please get me down from here?! These ropes chafe!"

* * *

"Ha!" bokens crashed together as Ran and Akane practiced kendo in the dojo. Their exchange of blows was interrupted when Nabiki ran in.

"Ran! Ran!" Nabiki gasped in between breaths. "Where's Shikon-Sensei?"

"Sensei?" Ran stepped away from Akane and pulled up the mask of her armor. "She went to Kyoto. Why?"

"Ranma has a problem. When will she be back?"

Akane pulled up her mask, "Is it that `moxibustion' thing Happosai hit Ranma with last night? Did it actually do something?"

"Yes! He's so weak, I sent him flying just slapping his arm!"

"Hun? What's that got to do with being weak?"

"Never mind! Tofu-Sensei doesn't know how to cure it, so he sent me to find Shikon-Sensei. When will she be back?"

Ran started taking her armor off, "Not for a week, I think. Maybe more. Can you wait that long?"

"I don't know. Happosai has been spreading around letters that say `Ranma is weak.' If anyone attacks him now, he's sure to loose!"

"Sorry, I'm not sure how to get a hold of her."

"Damn, damn, damn!"

"Nabiki, watch your language!" Kasumi, in her work outfit, joined them. "Tofu-sama has found something. We need to get Ranma and go to a temple where the moxibustion chart is hidden!"

As her older sisters hurried out of the house Akane turned to Ran. "Should we do something?"

"I don't see what. I think all we can do now is wait."

Later, when everyone came back, Ranma went straight for Happosai. Happosai, for his part, showed no mercy. When Akane and Ran tried to help, the old man just fled, mocking them with the moxibustion chart, which, indeed, he had.

"Argh! So weak I need girls to protect me! I can't take it any more!"

"Oh shut up and take your shirt off," Ran growled at him.

"Nani?"

"I'm going to see if I can fix you, baka."

Ranma complied. Akane looked over Ran's shoulder as the smaller girl examined the burn mark on his back. "Humm. What a tangled mess. Maybe if I..." Ran moved her hands over the mark, her aura flaring.

"Yaaaah!" Ranma spasmed with pain.

"Okay, not that, how about..."

"Aaargh!"

"Well maybe..."

An hour later, Ranma, pale faced and sweating profusely, ran away from Ran. The next morning, Nodoka informed the rest that Genma and Ranma had left without saying where they were going.

* * *

"Can we stop for a rest yet?"

"Stop complaining, Nabiki, we're almost there," Akane was somewhat disappointed in her older sister. "Don't you care what happens to your fiancee?"

"That was uncalled for! Of course I do! But we don't even know if he's really in Yomogi Valley."

"That's where Mousse said Cologne went. And, considering Mr. Saotome, it makes a sort of twisted sense to go to the moxibustion capital of Japan."

Ran chuckled, "Pour Mousse; he finally beats Ranma in a fight, and Shampoo missed it because she's visiting home in China!"

"Come on, its getting dark. We need to find Ranma," Akane said marching on.

"Hey, look!" Nabiki jumped up. "Is that a campfire?"

By the time the three girls reached the camp full darkness had fallen. They found Cologne and Genma sitting around a campfire, eating.

"Oh-ho, look who finally showed up!" Cologne almost looked like she was expecting them.

"We would have been here sooner," Nabiki said in an off hand manner, "but someone forgot to give us directions. Where is Ranma anyway?"

"He's off sulking."

"What I'd like to know," Ran began, "is what you are doing out here."

"Well, mostly I just needed a secluded place to teach muko-dono a technique he can he can use in his weakened state."

"So, so," Genma continued, "A powerful technique that uses the opponent's own strength against him, the Hiryu-sho-ten-ha."

"Interesting," Ran said as she settled in.

"You have no idea. Why, I myself was taken completely by surprise and blown away with its power."

Ran looked skeptical. "So how does it work?"

"The user leads his opponent in a tightening spiral while remaining perfectly cool and calm," Cologne explained gravely, "resulting in a tornado like updraft of wind that blows the opponent or opponents away. The blast itself is powered by the opponent's aura. And that is the problem. I was thinking that Ryoga would be the perfect opponent, but he can't seem to attack Ranma all out. In order for Ranma's training to be effective, a tremendous heat of battle is needed."

"Heat?" Akane asked. "If Ranma needs heat, maybe I can help."

Cologne scoffed. "Do you really think you can attack Ranma without holding back? Do you think Ranma will unleash the blast on you."

"He might," interjected Ran, "if he knew it wouldn't hurt her. As for Akane, how she feels is when attacking is irrelevant. Do you want to try, Akane."

"Hai. Let's go find Ranma."

"Humf, children," Cologne grumbled and went back to eating.

"Coming, Nabiki?"

Nabiki looked at the food before her, and then the retreating girls. With a resigned sigh, she got back up and walked after them.

As Cologne had said, Ranma was sulking when the three found him. To Akane's surprise, Nabiki went to comfort him right way to. Ranma did not respond positively, "So, are you girls here to laugh at the pour weakling?"

"No, you idiot, we're here to help you!" Nabiki was irritated.

"What can you do? Just go away. Go home. I can't stand for you, of all people, to see me so weak and pathetic."

"No, no. We just want to help. Cologne told us Ryoga wasn't working out as an opponent. We thought you could give Akane a try."

"Akane? You expect me to do the Hiryu-sho-ten-ha on Akane? And how is she going to produce the battle aura I need is Ryoga can't?"

"Don't be so quick to judge, Ranma," Ran said. "Akane can produce more than enough heat for you. It's a matter of skill and training. And don't worry about hurting her. She'll be fine, you have my word."

"Grrr, don't you get it, Akane can't possibly-Woh!" Ranma straightened in surprise as Akane seemed to burst into flame.

"Hot enough for you?"

"But...how?"

"Remember when Akane pulled the chestnuts out of the fire?" Ran explained, "Well, she was just using her fire aura. This is another aspect of it. Now get going, and remember you have my word!"

With that Akane rushed Ranma, and Ranma was caught up in dodging strike after strike. She seemed to surprise him with her speed. *Of course, I'm a lot faster now than I used to be.* But, still, Ranma dodged or blocked every blow. Then, it happened; the spiral came to a close, Akane leveled a punch at Ranma's head and…

Cologne was shocked when she saw the twister climb up out of the forest. "Masaka!" She sprinted toward it. What she found when she arrived was Ranma, sitting in the center of a scoured out depression in the ground. He was scraped and stunned, and his clothing was torn to shreds. "You fools, what have you done?!"

Ran got off of Nabiki, whom she had tackled to the ground at the edge of the blast zone. "Well, what do you know. Pretty impressive."

"You idiot! What about the girl, Akane?!"

There was a soft thump of someone landing lightly behind the old woman. "Oh, what about me?" Cologne turned to stare with wide eyes as Akane adjusted her gi. Her undamaged gi, over and equally undamaged body. Akane brushed her long hair back with her hand. "Well, that was fun. I guess you are ready to take on Happosai, Ranma."

"See Ranma, I told you she would be fine," Ran said proudly.

"Ranma?"

As everyone converged on the dazed looking Ranma, Cologne viewed two long haired girls through slitted eyes.

* * *

"I'm glad you finally feel comfortable enough to take a bath with me, Ran," Akane was washing Ran's back in the Tendo home's bathroom.

"Well, since we've been to public baths together so often, I guess I just decided it was okay."

Akane shrugged, not that Ran could see it. "It's just nice, bathing with someone, being able to talk. Having someone to wash your back. Okay, your turn." Akane turned around and Ran, a bit hesitantly, started to wash her back.

"You know, it's really too bad Happosai already knew about the Hiryu-sho-ten-ha. Ranma can't use it on the little troll if Happosai doesn't fight."

"Wasn't your Sensei going to be back soon?"

"Tomorrow, though that new technique has re-inflated Ranma's ego so much I don't think he'll ask her for help. Especially since I failed to get anywhere on it. He'll just keep trying to get Happosai angry."

"Yeah. That old hentai must have some control to just sit and watch while Ranma made a bonfire out of his underwear collection. I would have thought he would explode."

"Me too. Maybe the lech is more than he lets on."

Finished washing, both girls got into the tub.

"Hey, Ran? Do you feel like we're being watched?"

* * *

"If I win, you hand over that moxi-whatchamacallit chart!" Ranma was standing in the sports field of Furinkan High. A crowd had gathered in anticipation of the show. "Deal?!"

"You just don't give up, do you?" Happosai sighed, putting away the chart before going back to ironing a pair of panties. "Come at me when you're ready."

Ranma looked down and clenched his fist. After a long pause, he spoke. "I hope you understand that you have forced me to this." With a quick motion, Ranma pulled a string of pictures out of his shirt. "Take a look, Freak! Nude pictures of Akane and Ran bathing! Together!"

"Oooh!" moaned the male half of the audience.

"NANI!" screamed two particular members of the female half.

"Oh, my son is so manly!" Genma big-sweated at his wife.

Happosai looked wide eyed in Ranma's direction, quivering.

"Whatsamatter, drool-boy?!" Ranma shouted, "Don't you want them?"

"No, I do!"

"Ak! Kuno?!"

"I must have them!" Kuno slashed at Ranma.

"Stay out of this, idiot!"

"Those Pictures are mine!" Happosai's aura, his lust aura, expanded into enormous proportions.

"I'll kill him!" Both Ran and Akane were practically foaming at the mouth.

"Ranma, how could you sink so low!" The two girls were cut off in surprise as an enraged Ryoga sprinted toward the fray. Mousse and the principal also joined in. Soon Ranma was dodging blows from five opponents. Fortunately for him, they got in each other's way more than anything else, which actually made it easier. Akane and Ran were just barely holding themselves in check, with Nabiki trying to calm them down. People were noticeably drawing away from the fury the two were emitting.

And then Ranma let it loose. "Hiryo-sho-ten-ha!" The twister was huge, spiraling up and around. After a while, a noted lump of arms and legs was spit out, spinning furiously into the ground. Some of the boy's from the school looked in the whole that was created, and started filling it in on top of the bodies inside.

When the tornado died, Ranma stood up from a huddled crouch in the center of the blast area. He saw two very angry faces, and then felt two angry slaps. Recovering, he looked into the very disapproving eyes of his fiancee. "Ranma...!"

"Curse you Ranma!" A beaten, bloody, and dirty Happosai, who had just dug his way through the dirt piled on him, cut off Nabiki.

"Still alive, eh, Happy?" Cologne said.

"I have dragged myself from the very pits of Hell to see Ranma punished." Happosai held up a lit firecracker, but swayed and fell to the ground before he could through it. In short order, it exploded in his hand, leaving behind a beaten, bloody, dirty and charred Happosai.

Cologne hopped over and started searching him. "Now where did he put it?" She ended up stripping the old man down to his underwear, but found no chart. "Masaka! Could it have fallen out in the whirlwind?"

"All right Ranma, where are those pictures?!" Akane and Ran were rooting through Ranma's shirt as he was held in place by Nabiki's glare. "Where did they go?"

"Bah, it's no use," Cologne said in disgust. "The blast was so powerful, the chart could be anywhere in Tokyo, if it hasn't been completely shredded."

That sobered everyone. "Then...then I'll die a weakling?" Ranma was despondent. He looked around. "Akane, Ran, I'm sorry. It was the only thing I could do. Everybody...I just wanted to say thanks for everything...it's been fun." With that he jumped the fence and ran away.

"I still don't get it," Ran said. "How can he be too weak to hurt a child or lift a hammer, yet strong enough to jump a fence."

* * *

Ranma ran blindly down the street. He didn't see the woman until he nearly ran into her. "Why, hello, Ranma-kun," the woman said with a smile

.

"Shikon-Sensei!"

"Yes, dear. Here, you seem to have something on your back. Let me take care of that." With a graceful motion of her hand, she brushed the spot on Ranma's back where the moxibustion burn was. "There, that's better. You have a nice day, now."

Ranma stared as the woman walked away. Just then, he sensed a flying object coming at him. Throwing up a fist to block, he shattered a concrete roller. "I...I'm cured!" He then looked up to see the source of the projectile, to see Mousse, Kuno, Ryoga, and the principal running at him. With a smile, Ranma cracked his knuckles.

* * *

"A package for me and Ran?" Akane knelt down next to the large box and started opening it. "I wonder who its from?"

"Maybe you should wait until Ran gets here," Nabiki said, pausing from her breakfast.

Akane heaved a newspaper-covered object out of the box. "It's heavy." She set it down on the table, and started pulling the paper off. She jumped back in fight when Kuno's head was revealed.

When fully unwrapped, the object turned out to be a lifelike bust of Kuno Tatewaki, with a tape player in it. "Tendo Akane, Shikon Ran, I will be unable to attend school for the next three days, due to...personal reasons. Heh, heh. You will be lonely, I know. That is why I send you this statue, that you may gaze lovingly upon it until I return to you."

"Oh, yuck, what is that thing?" Ran seemed about as pleased as Akane with the object.

"Sometimes I wish bad taste was a crime," glowered Nabiki.

Ranma slammed it head first into the table. "That guy is enough to make even me sick. I presume neither of you wanted this?" he said, pointing to the broken device.

"Maybe as target practice."

"Good idea, Ran." Akane picked the statue up with a look of distaste, carried it outside, and set in on a practice post. "On three, right?"

"Right."

"Ichi, ni, SAN!"

The Kuno head exploded.

Akane and Ran were surprised to hear clapping. "Quite impressive, I must say. I don't suppose I could interest you in joining our village?" Cologne perched on the exterior wall, looking down at them. "No? Well maybe another time."

"What do you want, Cologne," Ran's mood had soured some.

"Now that you mention it, I've been looking into you, girl. Seems I was right, Shikon did have a male student, one she adopted nearly ten years ago."

Ran's eye's narrowed, "And your point?"

"Well, I was very interested to find out that his name was Ranma. Not a very common name that. Very interesting."

Ran stood stiffly. "Oh, how so?"

"I'm not sure yet. But you have to admit that the...coincidence is startling. I was wondering, could you tell me where your adopted brother Ranma is?"

"That would be his business. I suggest that you ask Sensei."

"Loyal, aren't you. Well, I shall see you again." Cologne leapt off.

Akane looked at Ran. "Ran? There is more to this than you were telling me, isn't there?"

"Yeah." Ran looked Akane in the eye, "There is more. I would love for the whole truth to come out so everyone could be happy, but it won't work that way. The truth would hurt a lot of people right now."

"Will you tell me I? No, that's something I shouldn't ask. You'll tell me when you're ready, ne?"

"Hai."

"So, you probably don't want me to say anything. About your brother, I mean."

"Hai. For now. Ranma and Genma especially might be hurt if they knew about Shikon Ranma. And, Akane?"

"Hai?"

"Some things we've done...you might feel hurt if you knew part of the truth."

"Me? How?"

"I don't want to hurt you Akane. You're the best friend I've had in a long time. No, ever. Can you trust me that the truth isn't terrible, just hard to understand?"

"I guess so."

"I promise, when I know you can understand the truth, I'll make sure you know. Let's get going, or we'll be late to school." Ran turned to leave

.

Akane looked after her friend, wondering. *I want to be worthy of your secret, Ran. But how can I learn to understand what I don't already know?*

* * *

"May I help you?" Shampoo recited the practiced phrase. The young man before her was looking around the restaurant. *Handsome. Looks strong and graceful, too. But not as good as Ranma.*

"Sure, I'm looking for someone named `Cologne.' Can you direct me too her?"

"You want see great grandmother? She in back."

The young man walked to the rear of the restaurant. As he approached the counter, Cologne looked him over. "You were looking for me?"

"Cologne, I presume?"

"That would be me."

"I was told you were looking for me."

"And you would be?"

"Shikon Ranma."

"Well, well, well. Come here, come here," she motioned him around the counter. "I admit I was not expecting to see you. It has been several weeks since I asked your sister about you. I don't suppose you have any proof you are who you say you are?"

Ranma blinked. "Proof?" he pulled out a wallet and slid a card out of it. "This is an ID card from a school I used to go to. It's not official, or anything." The card had a photo on it that did indeed match the boy's face. Beside it was written his name

.

"Now let me see that-Oh, clumsy me!" As Cologne bent over, she hit a glass of water on the counter with enough force to splash it all over Ranma. He got wet. "Oh, I'm so sorry, let me help you." Cologne grabbed a towel and started drying the boy off. While doing so, she examined his skin. Nothing special there. "There, now. That's just fine. I must say, you look remarkably similar to your adopted sister."

Ranma shrugged. "I am of the same family as Ran."

"Ah, well. It is to be expected then. I've also noticed that the two of you bare some resemblance to the mother of Saotome Ranma, Nodoka. Is there a family connection there, as well?"

"I was abandoned, as was Ran. I can't say for certain who I may call family."

"Is that what your sister is after, then? Some trace of family?"

"If Ran is looking for family, that is her business."

"And you don't care?"

"If I were looking for family, that would be my business."

"A rather private person, are you."

"We all have our secrets. Are you done asking me questions yet?"

Cologne chuckled. "Eager to be on your way, eh? One more if you will. Will you be staying in Nerima, or leaving again."

"Heh," he said, turning to go, "If you see this face again, it will most likely not be soon."

Cologne watched him leave. "What a strange boy."

Shampoo walked over. "Great grandmother, who that boy?"

"Just someone I asked to see. Go back to work and forget about it." With a puzzled look Shampoo did just that. "Perhaps it truly is a coincidence. There really are two students. Still, I'm sure there is something important here I am missing.*

* * *

"But, Ran!"

"I said, I'll take care of it. I don't want you wagering away your home to this Gambling King. I have a few things of value. I'll win the dojo back for you, Akane."

Akane and Ran walked into the Tendo Dojo, which, overnight, had been transformed into a casino. Elementary school kids were playing at various gambling games. Soun, standing in front of the Gambling King's chair, was holding a joker.

"Daddy...!" A rather put out Nabiki was saying.

Ranma, who had come in just ahead of Ran and Akane, was just about to say something when Ran kicked him on the back of the head. "Were you listening?! I'll take care of it!" Ran stomped up to the King's table. "All right, what did Mr. Tendo just lose?"

"The living room," Nabiki's eye twitched.

"All right, we'll play for that."

"And what will you wager, little girl?" the gambling king asked.

"How about this!?" What Ran slapped down on the table was palm sized, and apparently made of gold. "How about it, Mr. Gambling King?"

"Ehem, the Tendo living room it is."

And so they played. Ran was expressionless, flawless. When the King tried to cheat, he got nowhere. "You lose. Care to try again?"

"The dojo?"

"Hai."

The King sweated. "Well in that case. I have a special game in mind." He picked two cards, one an ace, and the other a joker. "Here are two cards." He quickly shuffled them in his hands, and laid both on the table. "If you pick the Joker, you loose."

"Well, then," Ran said innocently. "I pick this one." The King smiled as she placed a finger on one of the cards. "So this is your card." She picked up the other. The King stopped smiling. "Oh, look. It's the joker. You lose." Ran favored him with a sweet smile. The King looked like he was going to choke. "I think it's time for you to be leaving, now."

As the man packed up and slumped out of the dojo, Akane looked at Ran. "What just happened?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"But he look so sure he was going to win."

"That's because both cards were jokers."

Akane blinked. "Is that why you showed him the other card? How did you know both were jokers?"

"Remember what I told you about fairs?"

"Wait a second, you cheated?"

"Well, not so you'd know, and not in a way that actually broke any rules, but, yes."

"What are you girls talking about?" Ranma asked. "I didn't see her cheat."

"That's because I didn't do anything to cheat."

"Then how did you cheat?"

"I looked through the cards."

"Nani!" several people chorused.

"You could detect the ink in the cards?"

"Pretty much."

"Saotome, remind me never to play cards with this girl. Or her Sensei, for that matter."

As the others left, Ran caught Ranma's attention. "How exactly did you loose the Tendo Dojo to that guy, anyway. Akane only gave me the short version."

Ranma looked embarrassed. He scratched behind his head, and played with the tie of his ponytail. "Well, it started with this girl I knew when I was six. My best friend, ah, Ukyo. The Gambling King cheated her out of her father's business, so I tried to win it back. When he had all my clothes, I gave him an IOU for the Tendo Dojo, `cause Pop said I was going to inherit it one day. When I lost that, I was at the end of my rope, so we rolled him up like sushi and tossed him in the river. Later, we realize he was cheating, and didn't feel so bad about it."

Ran seemed to have gone a bit white during the story. When Ranma finished, she didn't say anything at first, but then, "You said this Ukyo was a girl?"

"Yeah, sure. She may have been a bit of a tomboy, but I think she kind of..." Ranma looked over at Nabiki, "no, never mind. Why do you ask?"

Ran shook her head. "No reason." She looked away, and then snapped her fingers.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking, I could have won back Ukyo's family business, so her family doesn't have the same problem."

"Don't worry. They gave that okonomiyaki cart to us...as a going away present. It's long gone."

"Oh. Anyway, here Akane, this belongs to you."

"The living room and the dojo? I guess you should give them to Ranma. He's the one who is going to inherit it."

"You can do what you want with them. I just wanted you to know that I won them for you, and it's you who decides what happens to them."

* * *

 **"Dad, I won the ticket. Why do I have to give it to Ranma and Nabiki?"  
**

"Akane, the two of them need some time together, alone. Recent events have put a...strain on their relationship."

"All right, here you go, Ranma. But you and Nabiki better have fun at the hot springs. I'd hate to give up my tickets just so you two can argue and bicker in hot water."

"I don't know about this, Daddy. It says its an obstacle race."

"Don't worry, Nabiki, Ranma will take care of you!"

There were sounds of destruction as Shampoo rode her bike through the exterior wall. "Nihao, Ranma!"

"What do you want, Shampoo?"

"Ranma be Shampoo partner in hot springs obstacle race?"

"I'm already going with Nabiki."

"Grrr. Humph. Mousse!" Shampoo stormed off.

"Not again," Ran said as she walked through the hole left by Shampoo's entrance. "I'm surprised this place is still standing."

"Oh, hi Ran. I was going to invite you to a hot springs resort, but Father thought Ranma and Nabiki needed it more."

"That's all right, it just means we have the dojo all to ourselves while their gone."

"I just hope they have a good time. I don't want my ticket wasted."

* * *

"So, that was Kodachi? The one who beat you in that rhythmic gymnastics fight?"

"Hai."

"She's...not altogether there, is she."

"That seems to be the consensus."

"I wonder if it runs in the family, or they all have some shared emotional trauma nobody knows about." Ran and Akane were relaxing on the back porch. Except for the appearance of the crazed gymnast, demanding to know where her "Ranma-sama" was, the day had been quiet. Which was to be expected, with the primary sources of disturbances having gone off to the hot springs obstacle race. "Well, I guess we should clean up these petals. Where does she get black roses, anyway?"

"Who knows. Maybe she grows them," Akane groaned as she got to her feet. It had been so nice to just sit there and enjoy Ran's company.

"Tadaima."

"Sounds like Nodoka-obasama is back."

"Okaasan?" Ran hurried into the house, while Akane followed.

"Oh, hello, girls," Nodoka said when she saw them. "Is anyone else here?"

Akane shook her head. "Kasumi is working, Mr. Saotome and Otoosan are at the park playing shogi, and Ranma and Nabiki left for the hot springs. It's just us, Obasama."

Nodoka sighed. She seemed pensive. "Well, then I'll just tell you girls first."

"Tell us what, Okaasan?"

Nodoka sat herself down. "Akane-chan, Ran-chan," she began with a smile, "I just found out that I'm pregnant. I'm going to have another baby!"

There was a pause, and then the girls swarmed over to embrace her.

"That's wonderful, Obasama!"

"You did say you wanted to have a daughter of your own. Now you have another chance."

"Oh, thank you girls. I just worry that we are imposing on your family, Akane-chan, and another child will increase the burden."

"Don't think like that, Obasama!" Akane chided. "You've done so much for us. Just look at how happy you've made Kasumi! I'm sure everyone will be overjoyed."

Ran nodded in agreement. "When is the baby due, Okaasan?"

"Well, the doctor said..."

* * *

"Don't tell us...you promised your unborn daughter as a bride?"

"O-to-san!" Akane was a bit more irritated than Kasumi.

"I didn't think I was actually going to have daughters..."

Picolet Chardin spread his distended mouth with his hands, displaying it in all of its grotesque glory. "For some reason I cannot fathom...the men of the Chardin family have difficulty finding wives..."

"Gosh, and why would that be..?" Nabiki could feign innocence better than Kasumi could do it for real.

"But it matters not now, eh?" Picolet said, "Whichever mademoiselle would be my wife shall come to the Chardin estate to learn the art of Martial Dining!"

Soun was sobbing to his daughters, "What shall we do..."

"Yeah, Daddy, what shall YOU do?" Nabiki corrected, arms folded.

"Shall it be you, my shorthaired vixen?" Picolet loomed over Nabiki.

"I...," Nabiki grabbed Ranma by the arm, "...am already engaged." Ranma waved.

"Then how about you, my graceful doe?" Kasumi actually flinched.

"You can't!" Akane cut in. "Kasumi is getting along so well with Tofu-Sensei. They're practically engaged!" Kasumi blushed.

"Well then, my ferocious tigress, I believe that leaves you to be my bride, no?"

"Well, I..." Akane couldn't think of a way out.

"Ara, of your daughters," Nodoka looked worried, "Only Akane is unattached."

Ran looked like she was getting ready to explode.

* * *

"Oh, Akane, you look like your wasting away. I'm sorry I couldn't get hear sooner."

Akane, in a billowing gown, turned to see Ran, who was dressed in a little French maid's outfit. "Oh, Ran! It's horrible. I haven't eaten anything in days! They steal all the food they set out in front of me and call me too slow! They make me do stunts while expecting me to snatch the food off the top of my head with my tongue! And then...and then there's this!" Akane rapped her abdomen. It clanged.

Ran rushed to Akane and hugged her. "They won't feed you unless you can beat them at battle dining?" Ran sighed as she pulled back to look Akane in the face. "There may be a way. It's dangerous, a technique that can easily be misused. But I can trust you, right? You've been stronger than those around you for a long time. If you were prone to misusing your strength, you'd be a bully by now."

Akane smiled at her friend. "I'll never miss use anything you teach me, Ran. A martial artist should never abuse those around her."

"Well then, let's go find a quiet place where we can practice..."

That night, during dinner, Madame St. Paul had a sudden flash of dizziness. It was only an instant, but, when it was over, the plate of her student, this Tendo Akane, was empty. *Odd. The meal has just started. Neither Picolet or I have had a chance to take her food.* But, there Akane was, wiping her mouth. She asked to be excused even before the Madame and Picolet had finished their meal. *Unheard of!* Even the maids were looking on in surprise. *Last night, that girl was too slow to get even a bite to eat, and now she cleans her plate without me even noticing?*

The next night, Akane's plate was clean again. One moment it was full, the next, it was empty. Madame St. Paul was at a loss. *The girl is no better at the basics of battle dining: her tongue is still too short to even reach the top of her head, and her mouth was not even large enough to hold a small apple. What is going on here. Can it be the `Parlay du Foie Gras?'"

It was only a few days latter that the challenge came. "I have to test your skills before we are married," Akane said to Picolet, "If you can't beat me, I will not be yours! I challenge you monsieur!"

Madame St. Paul was worried. The challenge had to be accepted. *Surely, the girl cannot beat Picolet in full battle dining. But what is she doing? The Foie Gras? It's seems not, but how else? If it is indeed, Picolet must be prepared!*

The contest was scheduled. The tables were set up in the Chardin estate. The audience was small, but enough to verify the contest.

"Don't worry, Akane, you can do it!" Ran encouraged.

Akane sat down at the table, facing Picolet. Madam St. Paul listed the rules.

Picolet, for his part, readied an empty plate. If mademoiselle Akane was, in fact, attempting the Foie Gras, he would need it to deflect the food. Then the match began, and Picolet slammed the plate into his mouth. When he found there was nothing to deflect he looked up, and saw, with a shock, that the contest was already over.

"Oh, too much food," Akane was moaning, pushing herself up from a table of empty dishes. "Get this stupid corset off of me. Madam St. Paul stared dumbly, but, as promised, produced the key to the corset. Akane vanished into an adjoining room, to reappear in her regular clothing. Looking a little sick, and holding her stomach, she approached Picolet.

"Mademoiselle Akane," Picolet began, "as promised, I release you from the betrothal. You, on the other hand," Picolet turned to Ranma and produced a 100,000 yet dinner bill, "Will of course promise me your future daughter as compensation..." Ranma just ran.

"Well, I guess that's just more incentive for me to earn more money," Nabiki said. "I wonder if it would throw Shampoo off some..."

"That was simply amazing, Akane," Kasumi said, apparently impressed. "Why, the food was gone in an instant, and didn't even see you open your mouth."

Ran held up a stopwatch. "Oh, not so fast. Five minutes and thirteen seconds."

This confused much of the family, which had by now moved off the estate. "Nani?"

"She finished the meal in five minutes and thirteen seconds. Still, fairly fast eating, nut I'm more impressed with how long she held it."

"It took her five minutes?" Ranma was clearly confused. "But she was done in an instant! It's like I just blinked and she was done!"

"Nope, it took her five minutes. You just don't remember any of them."

"I don't remem...what are you talking about."

"There was no way Akane could get fast enough to eat without being seen. So I taught her a trick. Everyone saw her eat, she just made them forget, and kept them from doing anything in the meantime."

"She hypnotized us?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"..."

* * *

"I just don't understand how someone could be so crewel to a defenseless little piglet!" Akane stomped into her home, carrying an injured and unconscious P-chan.

Ran was walking behind her, fingering a set of pantyhose, "I don't understand why someone would tie anything up in pantyhose. You think Happosai has anything to do with this?"

"I don't know. I can't imagine him leaving a piece of women's underwear behind."

"True." Ran looked at P-chan. "That's one tough little piggy you have there. He took quite a beating, but seems all..."

"Mr. Saotome, what happened to you?!" Akane cut Ran off as the two found a battered panda covered in pantyhose.

"Don't ask," read the sign he held up.

"More pantyhose...do I sense a trend, here?" Ran scratched her head.

"The big baka won't tell us what happened," Ranma said as he finished bandaging his father.

"Nihao!" Shampoo burst through one of the walls.

"Shampoo, don't you ever use the door?!" It may not be Ran's house, but it was getting ridiculous.

"Flower girl shut up now. Ranma! Shampoo come to warn that very strong...aiya, Shampoo too late. He get big panda already."

"Shampoo, what are you talking about?"

"Mousse beaten by man who steal Jusenkyo guest register. Turn into big monster and tie Mouse in pantyhose. He attacking men what have name in book one by one. He say so. Too late for panda man. But airen no have curse, so maybe okay. Shampoo no know."

"Was he the one that attacked P-chan? But he's just a..."

"What, monster get pig boy too?"

"Pig boy? What do you mean by that?"

"Wait a second," Ran jumped in, "Are you implying that P-chan is someone who has been to Jusenkyo?"

Shampoo looked dumbfounded. "You treat as pet pig, and you no know is really Ryoga?"

That floored both Akane and Ran. Akane lifted the unconscious pig to eye level.

Ran just stared. "Strong earth aura, just like..."

"Gets lost all the time," Akane went on, "just like..."

"'Pig Prince?!"

"And that stupid bandanna! Ryoga!" Akane stared in horror at the thing she held.

Everyone else just looked on in silence as Ran raised her hand to the pig, "Heh, and there it is, buried under all that earth. I didn't even notice it. Well, take that!" And Ran did something.

The suddenly full sized, fully human, and fully naked boy fell to the floor. Ranma reacted first. He jumped over to Ryoga, and hefted him up. "Okay, why don't I just take him away before somebody breaks something. Like all of Tokyo." Then, the lost boy on his shoulders, he exited the room at high speed.

"Why that..." Ran started, but the anger seemed to flow out of her as she considered what she was going to say. "Oh bloody hell," in English. "Akane..."

Akane looked about to explode, but then collapsed into tears. She dropped to the ground and hugged her knees, sobbing.

Shampoo smirked. "Is own stupid fal...Yeow! Ite, that hurt!" She was obviously less than pleased with the punch Ran had landed on her breast.

"Leave her alone!" Ran got Akane up and helped her to her room.

Nabiki sunk her head into her hand. "Oi, what a mess!"

"Ara, ara," Nodoka shook her head.

"You said it" read the panda's sign.

* * *

"Akane..."

"I let him sleep with me. *Hick.* I took him to my bed and slept with him. I..."

"Shush, shush, it's okay," Ran, with Akane in her arms, rocked back and forth on Akane's bed.

"I let him watch me dress! *Sniff.* I invited him, I'm such a..."

"Akane, stop it. Don't think like that."

"But everyone else..."

"They won't. Not if you don't. How many would even believe the pig you slept with was a boy?"

"Heh, with so many cursed people running around, quite a few. *Snif.*"

Ran sighed into Akane's hair. "You're so worried about what others think about you, you're not giving yourself a chance to be yourself."

Akane looked up at Ran. "What do you mean by that?"

Ran let her arms drop and scooted back a bit. "I've been to a lot of places. Everybody acts differently. Sensei taught me a lot about how people think, and, you know what? The biggest differences between people all have to do with what they think others expect of them."

Akane looked confused. "I...I don't understand."

"Aagh. It's hard to explain," Ran pushed her fingers through her hair. "Okay, how about this. Did you know that there really isn't much difference between men and women?"

"That's silly. There are all kinds of differences."

"Like what?"

"Well, you know, body parts. The things women have to go through that men don't. The way they look, and talk, and what they like. That stuff."

"What if I told you everything women have, men have?"

"I'd think you were blind."

"It's true, though. You take a woman's body, make this part larger and that part smaller, fuse a few things together, and wham! There's a man."

"No way."

"I could show on an anatomy chart, if it was detailed enough-people don't like to look to closely at certain parts on women, for some reason, so some charts aren't good enough. I could even-no, never mind. Anyway, trust me. In fact, everyone starts out as a girl. There is just one chemical that the male chromosome has that turns that girl body into a boy."

"This...this is just too weird." Akane was blushing furiously. She almost wanted to cover her ears.

"As for the rest...remember the play? I played Romeo, and did a fine job of it, if I do say so myself. If you hadn't known me, would you have been able to tell I was a girl?"

"But...but you were acting!"

"And so are you, whenever you try to do what others expect of you." Ran moved on. "Did you know that when Romeo and Juliet was originally played in England, a male actor had to play Juliet, because women weren't allowed to act? Because it wasn't seemly? Right here in Japan there are acting groups that are entirely male or entirely female. They don't just do plays that have only men or only women as characters."

"Ano..."

"And do you have any idea how many people in this world consider themselves homosexual? Who are just not attracted to the opposite sex? There are even people, doctors, psychologists, who are convinced that all of that stuff, from dresses to what you look for in a date are all taught to you by what you think people expect of..."

"RA-A-AN! What does any of this have to do with Ryoga being a pig?"

Ran blinked. She rubbed her head. She blinked again. "Ano...I have no idea. But at least your not wallowing in self pity anymore. Or was that self-loathing. No, wait, that could have just been fear..."

"Ran, you wandering again."

"Oh, sorry." Ran took a deep breath. "You know something that will really boggle your mind? Jusenkyo has pools that will actually turn men into women or women into men. Imagine that, changing genders with a splash of water."

"That...That's perverted!" Akane watched Ran's face drop. "Isn't it?"

"What does perverted mean?"

"Waa? Perverted is perverted!"

"That's really not a good definition, Akane."

* * *

"Ite! Oi! Come on let go of my ear."

"Stop being such a brat, Taro-kun. Now, you apologize for attacking Saotome-san. He is not the one who named you, so there is no need to be rude."

"Shikon-san, it is a pleasure to see you again. May I ask why you are visiting?" Nodoka looked uncertainly at the boy the woman had pulled into the Tendo house.

"This young man is Taro-kun. I'm afraid he has been making a pest of himself. He doesn't much like the name he was given at birth, so he thought he would beat a new one out of the person who gave it to him. But, as he apparently doesn't know who that person is, he is going after everyone in this register."

"Ara. Well, it has been very energetic here this evening. Apparently, Akane's pet pig, who she was very fond of, was really her friend Ryoga, and no one thought to tell her until just now. I believe Ran is upstairs with her right now."

"Really? I can imagine Akane-chan might be very upset. I hope Ran-chan isn't too hasty. Ah, here is Saotome-san."

"You!" the panda's hastily rising sign read.

Taro snarled, but Shikon-Sensei pulled his ear again. "Be a good boy, Taro, and apologize."

Taro tried to glare at her, but his glare was simply no match for hers. "All right. Gomen nasai."

"That wasn't so hard, now, was it? Although it could have been more sincere." She turned to Nodoka. "At any rate, Taro would like to change his name, and only the one who gave it to him can do so. By the name Taro was given, it can be inferred that the person in question has an unhealthy interest in women's undergarments. On a hunch, I looked in the register, and guess whose name I found?"

The panda got wide eyed, and held up a sign: "No! Say it isn't so!"

"I'm afraid someone by the name of Happosai visited Jusenkyo around the appropriate time. I don't suppose you can fetch him for me, could you? So that we can clear things up?"

The panda ran as if for his life.

* * *

Ranma pulled himself out of the wreckage of the wall. Oddly, Ryoga didn't hit him with that new attack of his again. In fact, Ryoga was currently being severely scolded by Ran.

"Wow, is she still mad about that P-chan thing?"

"No," Akane said from beside him. "We've forgiven him for that. She is telling him how stupid it is to be using the Shishihokodan."

"Oh."

"Well, depending on emotion to perform techniques does odd things to people. At least that is what Ran is saying."

"Emotion?"

"Ran said the `Shishihokodan' involves depression."

"Ryoga does have that in abundance. Say, I wonder if other emotions work..."

Akane glared at him, "Using emotion is taking a shortcut. Once you start down that path..."

"Okay, okay, sorry I asked."

Akane and Ranma walked over to Ran and Ryoga. "All right you two, if you are going to lob ki balls at each other, you might as well learn the right way to do it. Wait for us in the dojo while we go change into some gi."

"Oi, wait a minute!"

"You mean you want us to learn from a couple of girls?"

If looks could kill...

"Ulp!" The two boys actually moved quite quickly.

* * *

"So, Akane made sakura-mochi"

"Soun, shouldn't you eat them while they are still fresh?" Nodoka asked.

"Come on, Daddy. I think Akane actually got this one right."

"Why, thank you, Nabiki. I think."

"Ah, sakura-mochi?" Happosai bounced in.

"Yes. Akane made them herself." Happosai abruptly turned around, but Nodoka caught him. "It would be very impolite to refuse to try the food Akane made. Now you just sit down here and try one. In fact, let's all try one." Vulnerable faces all around.

"Ehem, then I suppose all at once," Soun said. In unison, everybody raised a sakura-mochi and put it in their mouths. Everyone grimaced. Akane sighed sadly.

Nodoka swallowed. "Now remember, be polite. That means you, too, Dear." With a grimace, everyone swallowed. "Now wasn't that..."

Everyone stared at Nodoka. Then at each other. Then they all started scrubbing the large black `X's off their faces. Akane was shocked. *They really work?!*

"Oh, sakura-mochi! Did you make them, Akane?" Ran asked as she came into the room.

"Wait don't...!" She ignored Soun as she picked one up and popped it in her mouth and swallowed.

"Ug," Ran coughed. "Maybe you need to stick to the basics, Akane."

Akane felt faint.

Ran looked up to all of the people staring at her. "What, do I have something on my face?"

"Oi," Nabiki complained. "Why does she get cherry blossom marks?!"

* * *

"Well, here we are. Ne, Akane, isn't this a nice place for a training trip."

"Hai...Ran, are you sure about this?"

"To tell you the truth, no. But the best thing we can do is get out of Kuno's sight for a few day's and keep our fingers crossed."

"I guess so. It would be nice to get Kuno off our backs. I just hope Mariko does it for us. Do you think she'll get him?"

"Not a clue. But he was just about to kiss her before that battle started. And you saw just how far she was willing to go for him. At pretty much first sight, too."

"It still feels weird wishing that hentai on any girl."

"Ah, but were not wishing the hentai on the girl, were wishing the girl on the hentai."

"About time you girls got here."

"Gaaah!" Ran startled as Cologne made her presence known.

"Where you waiting for us, Cologne?" Akane asked.

"Humph. My intention was to speak to Ran, but it seems she seldom leaves your presence."

"All right," Ran said, "You have my attention."

"As it should be." The old woman hopped closer. "I've met with your brother. He seemed somewhat...evasive. He told me that the two of you are blood related."

"Oh, is that so." It wasn't really a question.

"I find that interesting, seeing as how you were adopted only two years ago. I wonder where you were in the intervening time."

Ran didn't answer.

"Bah, you children are so difficult."

"Maybe you should ask what you really want to know, instead of beating around the bush."

"Well then. I will be blunt. You know the neko-ken. No, you have mastered the neko-ken. I have never heard of such a thing before."

"People say that a lot about Sensei."

"Then she taught it to you? I had not thought her the type..."

"No. The neko-ken was...someone else's doing. Sensei simply found the cure for it."

Akane felt she had no place in this conversation. *Cat-fist? What is that?*

"Cure for it? Well, I suppose she would see it as an affliction. But it is still available to you. You seem to have the benefits without the site effects. A powerful martial arts technique, that one."

Ran shook her head. "I don't get you. What is with your obsession with strength and fighting? What good are all the martial arts in the world going to do you against an assault riffle?"

Cologne frowned. "We amazons have a long history of..."

"...just history. Do you know what the call battles where one side is using hand-to-hand weapons now a days? A slaughter."

"But I'm sure you could stand up to such modern innovations."

"Could I, really?" Ran said, acting like a praised child. "Ha. If you are after me, that's one thing. But Ranma? You think his skills will save you from invaders? That his children will repel bombs and bullets? Don't make me laugh."

"That is a matter of tradition..."

"A tradition that can only make enemies for you in a world where friends are the most valuable things someone can have? I'm sure Sensei has informed you of the likely consequences of holding to the other half of that tradition. You know, what happens when a woman defeats one of you? There would be similar consequences if this husband hunt of yours is carried too far. The same for excessive attempts at recruitment."

"Well then, I guess we have nothing to discuss. But, be warned, your Sensei is not all that she seems. Tell me, do you know how old she is?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Not that I would tell you."

Colognes eyes widened a bit. "Then you are more far gone than I knew." She turned to Akane. "Beware of these people, little warrior. You would be far better off with me and mine." With that, Cologne hopped off at an alarming speed.

"What...what was that about?" Akane was more than a little disturbed.

"Akane, don't worry. She's old and set in her ways, so she really can't understand how the world has changed around her." Ran set her pack down and pulled a bundle from it. "Why don't you make camp. I'm going to go make sure she really left." And Ran took off after the old woman.

With a sigh, Akane started to set up the camp.

Latter, just after erecting the tent, Akane heard a cough, and turned around to find a boy leaning up against a tree. About Akane's age, he wore a loose outfit of slacks and a shirt, and his hair was braided into a pigtail. Akane was uncertain how to react, but his inoffensive posture kept her from dropping immediately into a fighting stance.

"Ah, hi there, Akane," the young man said.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Ranma. Shikon Ranma. And you are a friend of Ran."

"You're Ran's brother? What are you doing here?!"

"Ah, well, I kind of wanted to talk to you, actually." Ranma straightened off the tree and, with his hands clasped behind his back, shuffled his feet.

"Me? Not...not Ran?"

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Hai. I wanted to talk to you about Ran, so..."

"So you didn't want her here." Akane didn't really want to talk behind Ran's back, but there was so much she didn't know about her…

"Anyway, what I guess I wanted to say is that Ran loves you."

"Loves me? Well...ano...I love her too. She's my best friend!"

"You know I didn't mean it like that. She's in love with you."

Akane blinked.

"Look, Akane, I don't want to mess things up between...you. Ran...Ran is content being your friend. She hasn't had many. She feels so close to you that if would tear her apart if she never saw you again. But, well...you have to have noticed Ran acts a little odd in places like public baths, right?"

"Wait, that's just because she is embarrassed! It doesn't mean anything!"

Ranma shook his head. "She's not embarrassed. She's afraid. Deathly afraid that one of the women is going to point a finger at her and call her a pervert. And doubly so because of the way you react to `perverts.'"

"Why would someone call Ran a pervert?"

"You still aren't getting it. Ran is...confused. She isn't sure how she wants to live her life. Because she is attracted to both men and women."

"You mean she's...she's a lesbian?"

Ranma winced. "Please don't think that way. It's not how Ran views herself. Ran is...outside of a lot of the rules of society. And, if you put a label on her, she stops being a person."

Akane felt a tightness in her belly. She knew she was scared. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because she can't. She is too afraid to face you and say these things. Too afraid that you will hate her. Do you know why she was hesitant to bath with you? And why she eventually agreed?"

"How do you know about things like that?"

Ranma shrugged. "I know a great deal of things. I know that she didn't want to bath with you, not because she was embarrassed, but because she felt she would be taking advantage of you. But you kept insisting, and took her to the public baths. The temptation was too much, and she gave in. She rationalized that you were just two girls bathing, but the truth is, she enjoyed seeing you naked. Being with you naked."

Akane was furious. "How can you say that about your own sister?! How can you know?!"

Ranma calmly, even sadly, spread his hands. "They are true, and they need to be said. Ask her, and she will not deny it. She cannot deny you anything." Ranma looked to the side and exhaled. "It's probably best if you direct your anger at me, for now. I don't want to drive a wedge between you and Ran. I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't think there was some chance that you would return her feelings."

"You mean you think I...but..." Akane paused in thought. She reached back to take hold of her long hair, pulling it forward. "There was one man that I liked...but it was just a crush. I grew my hair out just so he would notice me, when I really liked it better short. But I'm just a child to him." Akane let go and shook her head. "I'm not...like that, though. I don't stare at other girls. Even...even if I wouldn't go out with any of the boys around me in a million years."

"But you like being with Ran, don't you?"

"Hai."

"Do you like bathing with her, washing her back?" A pause. "Did you like kissing her?"

"Why are you doing this?!" Akane was near tears. "What are you trying to make me into?!"

"I don't want to make you anything. What you do is your choice. But you have to know that it IS your choice. As it stands, Ran will gladly be anything to you that you want her to be. Except a stranger or an enemy. I imagine that if you push her away long or hard enough, she will leave and never come back. But right now she wants to be with you."

`I..."

"You know, if it were not for you, she and Sensei would have left long ago."

"She found out what she was looking for?"

"Not entirely, but she could have, if she was not concerned with how the result would affect you."

"What about Nodoka-obasama? I thought Ran wanted to be her daughter."

"Knowing a mother...that is some concern to her, but not enough for her to hold Sensei back."

"She is staying...for me?"

"I just said that, didn't I. She is in love with you."

"Oh kami." Akane put her hands to her face.

"Well, with that said, it looks like its time for me to leave," Ranma said as he walked right up in front of Akane. "Just one more thing." Ranma put his hands on Akane's shoulders. He was nearly a head taller than her. "If you show Ran that you love her back, that you can accept her regardless of the things you don't know, she will tell you the truth. All of it." Ranma bent and kissed Akane on the forehead. "Bye, now!" he said as he sprinted off into the woods. Akane stood stunned.

Eventually, Akane sat down. For a very long time, she sat, pondering what she had just been told. Wondering what she herself wanted. What she was willing to accept. What she would dare. At last, she came to at least one decision. Not a major one, just something to tide her over until later. She stood up, and went looking for a pair of scissors.

When Ran finally returned to camp, she gasped, "Akane, what are you doing!"

"I'm cutting my hair. I never liked it long, and I think I'm tired of keeping it that way for someone else who doesn't even care."

"Baka. You're making a mess. Give me those."

In short order, Ran had shaped Akane's hair into an androgynous looking short style, like a bowl cut. Akane stood up, and tried to shake the scratchy hair out of her cloths. "Hey, Ran? Let's go bath in the river. Maybe you can help me wash off all of this loose hair."

Ran looked surprised at first, but then smiled. "Sure. Let me go get our soap and towels."

Akane watched Ran walk off. "Ran? I don't want you to ever go away, okay?"

* * *

"...province's Horaisan Mountain mysteriously collapsed..." A news report was playing on the television in the Tendo home.

"Say! Isn't Horaisan the mountain that Ranma and the others went to, Akane?" Nabiki asked from the table.

"As I went out in the field," the report continued with an interview, "the sky in the east was shining pure white..."

Akane said nothing.

"How many weeks has it been without any contact?" Nabiki laid her head on her hand, sad. "I wonder if anything has happened to Ranma...or the others...?"

"Everything's okay!" Akane seemed forced. "Ran will surely come back home soon...!"

"I hope so...but..."

There was a crash from the kitchen. "Ara, ara," lamented Nodoka.

"Ughh! The shrine!" shouted Soun. Sounds of destruction followed.

A thump emanated from the hallway. "Oh, no! My bag's strap broke," Kasumi said.

"Unlucky omens," the three said together.

"Ano..." Nabiki twitched.

"Everything is okay..." Akane muttered as she got up. She wrapped a scarf around her neck and went out to stand on the front porch. She had been doing this a lot lately. The evening was cold, and Akane's breath shown in the air.

"Akane," Nodoka walked up behind her, "Please come...Oh! Genma!"

And there, coming through the gates, were a panda, a boy, and a girl. The panda held up a sign, "Don't worry! I'm cured!" He flipped it over. "Just get me some hot water."

Ranma set a pile of cloths and a black piglet on the porch. "Get some for Ryoga, too. He deserves it."

Akane opened her arms and engulfed Ran in a hug. The smaller girl looked up and soon the two had their foreheads pressed together, grinning widely.

"Ranma!" Nabiki squealed as she flung herself into the boy's arms. "You never wrote! You never called! Baka, baka, baka!"

Nodoka poured a kettle of hot water on the panda. Her husband patted her growing belly. "Your showing, dear," he said fondly.

"How did it go?" Akane asked of Ran.

"Well, we all made it back in one piece, and no one is stuck in their cursed form," Ran sighed. "But I was only able to get the kettle." She held up the piece of table wear. "Sensei is going to have to do with never seeing the ladle. And then there's Ranma..."

"Ranma..." the call was soft, especially considering it's source. Shampoo walked through the gate toward Ranma. Very deliberately, she poured the kettle of hot water over the boy. Ranma… "Is true, you girl." Shampoo said. Everyone gasped. Ranma had shrunk slightly, though he was still taller than Nabiki, and his face softened. The tracks of tears were plain to see on Shampoo's face. "No can kill. Bie liao." And, with that, Shampoo leaped away.

"'We'll never meet again?'" Ran translated. "What did she..."

"Ranma! My poor baby boy!" Nodoka cried, rushing toward Ranma. "What's happened to you?!"

"Ra...Ranma?" Nabiki, of all people was in the best position to notice the changes in Ranma's body.

"No! I'm too late!" Mousse arrived on the scene with his glasses in place for once. "Ranma, I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I wasn't thinking!" Then he jumped after Shampoo.

Confusion reigned for several seconds, before Genma cleared his throat loudly enough to get everyone's attention. "Now then. While we were able to retrieve the kettle and unlock my curse, I'm afraid some odd combination of magic has...affected Ranma. Since then, hot water has caused him to change into a...girl until he can be splashed with cold water again. As we don't really know what happened, it...it may be as incurable as a Jusenkyo curse."

"Oh, my son, such terrible things you have to bear! Let's go inside and get you some cold water."

People started to enter the house. Even Ryoga, forgotten in his pig form, went inside. Only Akane and Ran stayed outside, still embracing.

"Ran," Akane said, "Ranma had a fire in his aura. With the water already there, it looks just like..."

"Just like a Jusenkyo curse, I know."

"Genma was lying, wasn't he?"

"Ranma changed when he got hit by water from the open-water-kettle. I think I was the only one who really saw besides Genma."

"Then Ranma is really...was born...a girl?"

"It looks that way."

"But Nodoka had a son, not a daughter and...NO! You're brother! He must be the real Ranma!" Akane's mind was boggled.

Ran held her tightly. "Shh, shh. Not so loud. You are jumping to conclusions."

"But I'm right, aren't I? This was why you were here, and..."

"Yes and no. You don't have everything. Speak up now and everyone will regret it."

"But Ran!"

"Stop, just stop. What's the point? Too Shikon Ranma, this family is just a curiosity. To Saotome Ranma, they are life. The truth is that this Ranma needs to be a Saotome. Little truths like the name they were given at birth pales in comparison to that one fact."

"Ran..."

"Just, don't say anything, okay?"

"Hai." Akane put her head on Ran's shoulder. "Ran, do you know who this Ranma really is? Who he, or she, was born?"

"I have my suspicions. The only thing left to do is track down one particular okonomiyaki vendor, and ask him about his children."

"Well, well. It is good to see not everyone here is so gullible." Akane and Ran tensed and separated as they turned to see Cologne watching them. "Maybe there is hope for you, yet."

"What do you want, old woman?" Ran was obviously getting tired Cologne's intrusions.

"To explain a bit, perhaps. You can tell Ranma that Shampoo can no longer marry her. If Ranma had been a man who fell in the spring-of-drowned-girl, it would be a different story. But, as it stands, Shampoo must either kill Ranma of give up her place as a warrior in the village. I think it is fairly obvious which she chose."

"Good," Ran said, "Then maybe she can start making something of her life."

Cologne's frown was somewhat frightening. "You don't understand amazon pride, girl."

"No, I suppose I don't. But then, why would I want to understand the irrational?"

Cologne's frown, if anything, deepened. "This from a girl who consorts with demons?"

Ran's face hardened. "Think what you want. I'm not the one who is intent on murdering people who beat me."

"Bah, I come here to help you, and all I receive is insults!" Cologne turned to go. "Shampoo and her father will be returning to China. I imagine Mousse will follow. But, never fear, I shall remain to save you from your own folly." Then she, too, left.

"Ran? Demons?"

"A term. A name." Ran looked a Akane. "An old one, at that. Don't worry. There is no danger, at least not directly. Certainly nothing as evil as evil as Happosai."

"Ran..."

"Come on. Let's go inside. It's cold out here."

* * *

"You know, this is getting very, very old," Ran said shuffling toward the school gate.

"Particularly when it's cold," Akane agreed, "And all the clothing makes it harder to fight. I thought this would be over and done with now that Kuno has a girlfriend that actually likes him back."

The morning fights seemed to have taken on a life of their own, separate from any one individual.

"Well, here they come!" Ran said, dropping into a stance.

Akane watched to boy's close in when a young voice piped up from behind them. "Oh, delinquent students!" She and Ran turned to see a girl, apparently their age or younger, dressed in a loose sweater and skirt. "Attacking girls is naughty!" the girl continued, pulling out a coin. "Good girl exercise number one!" She chanted some words, then: "Happoh-go-yen-satsu!"

There was a rush. Aura streamed off the boys, through the coin, and into...the woman? *What in the world?* Akane thought, *What happened? What did she do?* The boys collapsed to the ground, apparently drained of energy, while the girl...the girl had grown, filling out the clothing to become a very attractive woman.

"Behold delinquents!" the woman said in a confident, adult voice, "Feel the power of the Indiscriminate Grappling Ultimate Technique, the Happoh-go-yen-satsu!"

"Indiscriminate Grappling? Oi, Akane, isn't that your style? The one that old pervert came up with?" Ran asked.

"Hai." Akane walked up to the woman and cleared her throat, and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your concern. This happens to us every day. But we can take care of ourselves, so you don't have to get involved."

"Nonsense. As a teacher, it is my duty to protect my students from delinquents. Though, if this happens every day, I can see why I was called here. Could you direct me to the office? I need to speak with the principal."

"Ano, you see that Hawaiian looking hut on the roof?" Akane pointed. "That's the principal's office."

The woman raised an eyebrow, but started off into the school. With all eyes on her. The now tight sweater showed almost as much cleavage as the now mini-skirt showed leg.

"Wow," Ran said. "You know what? I think she just drained these baka's battle aura's, and used the energy to change her form! I don't think I've ever seen a human do that!"

"Is she a new teacher?" Akane asked no one in particular as they made their way to class. In the classroom, rumors were flying.

"...weird new teacher..."

"...cracked down on three schools before..."

"...did you see what happened to them...?"

"...and, man does she look..."

Eventually, rather than the usual teacher, the woman, once more a girl, came into the classroom. She picked up some chalk, and wrote her name on the board. "Whoa..." was the general consensus of the class. Several invocations of "kawaii" were heard around the room.

"All you bad kids better watch out!" the girl spoke, "I'm Miss Ninomiya Hinako."

Before she could say anything further, there was a disturbance outside. "Give me back my underwear!"

"What a haul, what a haul!"

"You dirty old man!"

"Who's a dirty old man? Can't you see my uniform?"

The class rushed to the balcony, and Hinako and Ranma ended up jumping to the ground.

"Oi, it's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" Ran asked Akane.

"Hai, seems that way."

* * *

Ran and Akane walked into the Tendo house after yet another afternoon of practicing and sparing, and headed toward the bath. But a strange sight greeted them in the living room. Soun, Genma and Nodoka were all seated, drinking tea. The men were stiff backed, wide-eyed and staring into space. Nodoka was sitting with her head bowed, be it was easy to see she was blushing furiously.

As the two girls passed, Nodoka spoke. "Akane-chan, Ran- chan? You should wait to take a bath. It is occupied at the moment." Sure enough, as they approached the bathroom, they could hear a voice from within.

"Nabiki..?" Akane said to Ran. There was a pause. More sounds from within.

"Ano...Akane, does that sound a little...ecchi to you?"

"Oh, where did I go wrong," Soun bemoaned. "Kasumi. Kasumi has a nice, normal relationship with a nice, normal man. No beating up boys. No kissing girls. No...oh, Nabiki, of all my daughters, why you? Playing in the furo with..."

"Come now, Tendo. Ranma is her fiancee, after all," Genma consoled, still staring straight forward.

"But what will people say?" Soun was leaking tears and still staring at the wall.

Akane looked back at the bathroom. "Nabiki is in the bath with Ranma? Wait second, if they are taking a hot bath...then..."

Voices from the furo. Giggling, squealing... Two female voices.

"At least this way they don't have to worry about an unwanted pregnancy."

"Raaaaan!" Akane blushed furiously. "Maybe we should go to the public baths."

"Sounds like a better idea than waiting for them to finish."

Akane and Ran went to gather some necessary bath items. Akane sent one last glance at the bathroom. "I didn't think Nabiki...liked that kind of thing."

"Maybe she just loves Ranma."

Back in the living room: "Tendo-san?"

"Yes Nodoka-san?"

"I believe we will need to drain the furo this evening."

"Ah, so." A shriek from the bathroom.

"Maybe scrub it, as well."

"Hai."

* * *

"No, I don't see anything special about this whistle," Ran handed the object back to Akane.

"I just can't help but feel there is some important memory I just can recall that has something to do with this whistle. Something to do with when I got lost here at Ryugenzawa..."

"What was that, ten years ago? Sometimes its hard to remember even important things that far back." Ran's face darkened. "Then, on the other hand, some memories are impossible to forget, no matter how hard you try." She adjusted her large backpack.

"I think it has something to do with protection...to ward off monsters." Akane looked at the whistle. "That's right, I think a boy gave it to me...was he hurt?"

Suddenly, the ground behind them pushed up, and something loomed out at the two. Akane and Ran turned and jumped back, as an elephant-sized...duck-billed platypus?...fell flat at their feet.

"Go home," A boy, covered in bandages and wielding a push broom, said from the back of the monster. "From here now, it's full of traps I've laid out for the monsters. Go home quickly."

"But," Akane started, "The local people asked us to help remove the monsters..."

The boy jumped down from the platypus. "I'm not going to say it again. Go home." He stepped forward, and suddenly, the ground fell out from under him as boards flipped up around him. A rope snapped, and a pile of rocks landed on his head.

Akane looked down at the dazed boy. "This, this might be him," she said softly. "If it is...he saved me that time..."

"What? You know him?" Ran asked Akane.

"I remember this monster. When I was lost here before, this boy beat it up and saved me. But he was injured...and he fell into a trap, just like that one..."

"Akane?"

"Here, help me get him out. We have to take him to his house. I found it before; I think I know where it is."

"All right, here. Now, hold him between us, like so. Which direction was his place?"

Eventually, Akane and Ran managed to get the boy home. It was a small, one room shack. They were going to set him down, but he awoke. "What? Where am I? Who are you?"

"Sorry," Akane said. "You fell into a trap. We carried you here."

"Oh," said the boy. "Well, while you're here, you might as well come inside."

Inside the hut, an old man was asleep on the bed in the corner. "That's my grandfather. He and I live here."

"You live alone with your grandfather in the middle of this kind of forest...?" Akane asked, concerned.

"My grandfather doesn't have much time left," the boy responded. "I'm grateful that you brought me home, but...Go home already. This is no place for weak girls to be in."

Ran frowned. Akane ignored the last part. "What in the world are those monsters? And why are you in a place like this?"

Before the boy could answer, his grandfather suddenly swung upright in the bed. "Shinnosuke, can't you at least get out some tea for our guests?"

"Grand-pa..."

"The tea things are on the second shelf from the top," his grandfather pointed, "and the hot drinking water is over there."

"Second from the top, right..."

Later, Akane was taking a bath in a fifty-gallon steel drum, while Ran washed herself next to it. There really was no privacy, save for the fact that there was no one nearby to see. "So," Ran was saying, "You think this boy is the one who gave you the whistle, right?"

"Hai. He looks like him. He dresses like him. And he is the only boy in the area. But if he is, I don't understand, why doesn't he recognize the whistle? Why doesn't remember saving me?"

"Well, it was ten years ago. Maybe he just forgot? His memory might not be as good as yours."

"Maybe." Akane looked at Ran. *I wonder when it was that I started to like looking at her like this.* She started to get out of the tub, noticing how it drew Ran's eyes to her. *I wonder when I started to like her looking at me like that.* Ran started to climb in as Akane got out, and they brushed together slightly.

"Go..." Akane look forward to see a stark naked Shinnosuke staring at her. "...gomen nasai!"

Akane, who was now standing facing toward the boy, slapped him. Ran, in trying to turn to see what was going on, slipped on the rim of the drum and fell in headfirst.

"I forgot you were out here!" Shinnosuke said, turning to flee. "Gomen nasai!" As he left, Akane stared. On Shinnosuke's back where three, large, parallel scars. *Just like the wounds the boy who saved me had! It is him!*

Akane heard a gasp for air behind her. Ran was struggling, bent double with her legs over the rim of the drum, to keep her head above water. "A little help, here!"

* * *

"The reason Shinnosuke is alive today, is because of the Water of Life."

"The water of life?" Ran asked Shinnosuke's grandfather.

"You know..." the old man explained. "This used to be a zoo for rare animals, and I was a common zookeeper. The, one day, a platypus escaped. It was found almost immediately, because it had grown to an enormous size and came back rampaging. In the confusion, other rare beasts escaped, as well. One after another, they grew huge, and eventually came to live here. The source of this growth is a spring that bubbles up in this forest."

"Why did you build a rare beast zoo in a forest with such dangerous spring bubbling in it?" Akane asked.

"Back to our original subject..."

"You built it without planning, didn't you?"

"Ehem. Since then, Shinnosuke and I have taken care of the forest, making sure the rare beasts did not wander out of the forest and cause any harm."

"Hmmm,"

Akane looked at Ran. "What?"

"I was just thinking about what Sensei said before we left, that we should try not to kill the monsters. If they have been here for years, and are only now causing problems, then something must be stirring them up. They are just a symptom, and we need to find the actual problem to stop the attacks."

"Quite so," the old man said. "The animals are innocent. Most are not even predators. However, that does not mean that they are not dangerous. Which is to the point of the story. One day I found Shinnosuke with a set of deep slashes on his back from one of them. The doctor said he would not live. Grasping at straws, I gave him the water of life. A miracle occurred. In an instant, he had recovered. However, when ever he stops drinking the water of life, he develops headaches, dizziness, and becomes lethargic."

"But the well with the water of life went dry just now..." Ran started.

"S-so that means Shinnosuke..." Akane was frightened by the thought.

"Hai, if there is no more water of life, he will die."

"Wait, he just went off to get some water from the swamp," Ran started to get up. "If he is getting dizzy spells, then...he may not be able to defend himself from the monster! I'm going to look for him!"

Akane was going to go after her, but, by the time she got to the door, Ran had already disappeared into the night. Long minutes ticked by, until, finally, Ran returned with Shinnosuke over her shoulder.

"I was just in time," she said. "He fainted and that platypus from earlier was about to attack him."

Akane sighed in relief. "I'm glad. Wait, how did you know it was the same one?"

"It still has that bump from where he hit it."

"Oh."

Shinnosuke's grandfather came over to examine the boy. "There is no help for it. Tomorrow, we must go look for the Water of Life at the other springs."

"There are others?" Akane asked.

"Several. There's an underground water vein that feeds them."

Ran looked worried. "I can't shake the feeling that there is something deeper going on here. What if the problem is with the source, and all the springs are dry?"

"Then...then I will...deal with it."

"You? Alone?" Akane faced him, determined. "It's dangerous, isn't it?"

"Hai."

"Then we are not going to let you do it alone. We are going to help Shinnosuke, too. And fix whatever is wrong. Right, Ran?"

Ran nodded.

The old man sighed in resignation. "The get some sleep. Hopefully, one of the other springs will still have some water."

* * *

"Ry...Ryoga!? What are you doing here?" Ran stared down at the figure stuck in the rock covered pit trap.

"Akane-san, Ran-san! I...where am I?"

"All right, that proves it! Something very wrong is going on here."

"What do you mean, Ran?"

"His earth aura, Akane! The only possible explanation as to how he could stumble onto this place just when things are happening means that he was drawn here. The monsters are restless, the springs suddenly dry up, and Ryoga finds us; this is absolutely a catastrophe in the making."

"Ano...is he okay like that?" Shinnosuke asked.

After introductions were made all around, they continued on their way to the next spring.

"So, Ryoga, where were you trying to go?" asked Akane.

"Well, I...um...was trying to get back to Akari's farm."

"Oh! Is that your girlfriend's name? You never told us before."

"Um...um...hai. Unryu Akari." Ryoga sighed happily. "She is so wonderful. She actually likes me better because of my curse. Did you know she was overjoyed when she found out it wasn't a one time thing? She things turning into a pig is a wonderful ability."

"Wow. You weren't kidding when you said she loves pigs, were you?" Ran commented.

"Yeah." Ryoga sighed sadly this time. "I just wish it didn't take me so long to find her again every time I leave."

When they found the last spring it was dry. "There is no hope for it," the old man said, "we must go to the source."

"As I expected," Ran responded. "Now, I think you better tell us about this source and why it is dangerous."

"To do that, I must tell you about the Yamata no Orochi, a rare beast among rare beasts. The watery nest of the Yamata no Orochi is the source of the Water of Life wellsprings. A strange moss grows on the body of the serpent, and the essence of this moss dissolves in the water of the nest to form Water of Life."

"One might ask just how he came to know all this..." Ran muttered.

"So, all we have to do is get some of this moss off the Yamatano Orochi?" Akane asked.

"Why do we need the water of life?" asked Shinnosuke, "I forgot."

His grandfather ignored him. "I essence, yes, all we need is the moss. But it is not so easy. The Yamata No Orochi is a huge, eight- headed beast. We must draw it out of its nest before we can get to the moss. In order to do that, we must use the serpent's two weaknesses: women and alcohol."

"That's it then," Akane said. "I'll be the bait."

"Don't think it's that simple. If you're the bait, you'll end up being eaten."

"Then what do we...?"

"Simple. Shinnosuke, your friend Ryoga, and I will dress as women."

"NANI!" Ryoga obviously was not to keen on this idea.

"Calm down. If we are dressed as women, the serpent will try to eat us..."

"And that is supposed to reassure me?!"

"...but it hates the taste of men, so as soon as we are in its mouth, it will spit us out. We'll be perfectly safe."

"Safe?!"

"Yes, safe. Now, once we lure the serpent out, the girls will go after the moss."

"Won't it try to eat Akane and I then?"

"No, because you will be dressed as boys."

"Ano, can anyone tell me how...no, never mind." Ran stopped trying to make sense of it at this point.

"Now, I happen to have a bag of clothing right here, along with some sake, and we'll..."

Once everyone had a chance to change…

"Akane, Ran, don't look at me its too embarrassing!" Ryoga was very put out about the woman-nurse's outfit he was wearing. Shinnosuke stood next to him in a policewoman's costume. His grandfather had put on a wedding gown.

"Ah, come on Ryoga, you look cute. Loosen up a little," Ran teased. She and Akane had both bound their breasts and put on close fitting boy's school uniforms.

"You girls go stand someplace high up. The boy's and I will go inside to lure the serpent out." The two girls did as they were told, and took up positions on either side of the entrance to the lair, push-brooms in their hands, ready to scrape up some moss of life. Soon after the men entered the cave, there was roaring, and the old man came flying back out to tumble across the ground.

"Yaaaah! It's seen through the disguises!" yelled Ryoga and Shinnosuke as they ran pell-mell out of the cave. The mouth of the lair burst open, and the many heads of the Yamata no Orochi, breathing fire, stretched forth to give chase. Akane jumped among the serpentine necks of the beast, as Ran did the same from her side. While a battle ensued between the men in drag and the heads of the monster, Akane searched desperately for the moss, but didn't see any.

Eventually, something became apparent. *No matter how many times I count...* "Ran!" she called. "There are only seven heads! Where is the eighth?"

Suddenly, a large glowing mass of ki shot above the serpent, before crashing back down, slamming its heads to the ground. *What was...*

"Ryoga, you idiot!" yelled Ran. "What did I tell you about playing around with the Shishihokodan?!"

Ryoga set about beating what little sense was left in the heads after their fall, while Shinnosuke and his grandfather climbed painfully out of the crater the perfect depression blast had created. "Ha! It's over," Ryoga spoke, dusting off his hands over the unconscious monster heads.

"There's no moss of Life!" Akane shouted from on top of the serpent.

"Nani!?" the old man exclaimed.

"Be careful!" called Ran. "The eighth head hasn't come out yet!"

"Eighth?!"

"She's right! I only beat seven heads!" Ryoga said, looking around.

There was a rumbling from the lair of the serpent, and suddenly the earth covering the entrance exploded upward. Out of the clouds of dust, a massive head appeared. Akane clung to the mane that ran down the length of one of the necks, suspended in the air.

"A huge head on the end of it's tail?!"

Straining to hold on, Akane thought, *The moss of life to save Shinnosuke...it must be on the eighth head! If I can..."

The huge head sniffed the air, then a huge tongue snapped out and wrapped around Akane, lifting her toward its mouth. "It must have noticed Akane's feminine scent!" shouted the old man.

*My chance!* Akane used her broom as a cudgel, smacking the nose of the last head down so that she could swipe its forehead, sticking some moss to the bristles. *Got it!* "Ojiisan!" ehe called as she tossed the broom.

The serpent, rather than pulling Akane into its mouth, turned and dived into the water of it's nest. *Got to hold my breath!* Akane was pulled farther and farther down, and she couldn't hold it. Her breath escaped her. She felt the tongue loosening around her, but her vision was going black and…

...and she was coughing up water on the ground, looking up into Ran's worried face. Akane was just starting to get up, when the huge eighth head reared out of the water.

Ran struck a girlish pose and said girlishly, "Hey, come after me! I'm really a delicious real girl!" She then dashed off, drawing the head's attention from Akane and Shinnosuke, who was helping her to stand.

The head followed Ran eagerly, pulling the rest of the body with it. However, when the other heads passed Akane, they began to awake. "They woke up!" Shinnosuke pulled Akane to her feet. "Akane, hurry!" They ran as revived heads rolled toward them. For an instant, the heads stopped and turned to look back toward Ran, but then immediately returned to chasing Akane and Shinnosuke.

"Shinnosuke...!" A push-broom spun toward them, and Shinnosuke caught it. The old man, holding up the skirt of his wedding dress, instructed his grandson. "With that broom..."

"Thanks, grandpa! Go it! I'll beat you all!" Shinnosuke set out bashing the serpent heads with the broom.

It was the same broom Akane had used. *He's scattering the moss of life around!* "Shinnosuke, don't swing that broom around!"

"He's forgotten about the moss of life!" the old man sobbed.

Suddenly, Shinnosuke's eyes went wide and glassy, and he

fell forward in a seizure. One of the heads sent the boy flying with a hit from its snout. Akane picked him up and ran. "Isn't there any way be can beat the serpent?!" she asked the boy's grandfather.

"There is."

The heads were suddenly yanked backward. Stopping, Akane looked at the old man. "All right, there's a way to beat the serpent..." she continued.

"There is, but there isn't."

"WHICH IS WHAT!?"

"After all, the Horn Whistle is lost."

"Horn Whistle?"

"Hai. A secret treasure for banishing serpents, handed down from ancient days, it is made from the horn of the one-horned mongoose!"

"One...horned...mongoose?"

"That rascal Shinnosuke lost it the day I gave it to him." Akane held out the whistle Shinnosuke gave her ten years before. The old man's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "BLOW IT!" So she did.

The seven heads of the serpent that were nearest to Akane instantly stopped and fell into a dead sleep. "I did it!" She looked down at Shinnosuke. "Now use the moss of life on him!"

The old man stripped his grandson of the policewoman's outfit, turned him on his back, and scrubbed the brush of the moss-laden push-broom over his scarred back

.

"The scar is gone!" said Akane, amazed.

"Waaaah! You're saved, Shinnosuke!"

*Good, Shinnosuke is saved...* Akane clenched the whistle in her hand, and, with a determined look, ran toward the last head of the Yamatano Orochi. As she rounded the bulk of the seven necks, she caught sight of the head.

"Ra...Ran! Where are you!" The eighth head suddenly convulsed, and, with what can only be described as a look of disgust, spat something out into the air. Ran orientated herself, and landed in a four-point stance. Her clothes seemed to have burst at the seams, and there was blood where her bindings on her breasts appeared to have been slashed open.

Akane paused for just an instant as the head turned toward her. Then she blew the whistle.

* * *

"Akane," Ran was saying as the two of them approached yet another okonomiyaki restaurant. "Thanks for coming with me. I know you didn't have to."

"Actually, Ran, I was sort of considering the fact that I really didn't do anything but leave Father a note before we left for Ryugenzawa. I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to get home."

"Well, anyway, lets go see if this is the one." Ran and Akane stepped inside the restaurant. Behind the griddle where the okonomiyaki was cooked was a large, bald man with a straight, rough looking beard. "Ehem, are you Kuonji-san?" Ran asked him. Akane thought she saw a hint of recognition in her friend's face.

"That would be me. What can I do for you?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but do you have a child my age named Ukyo?"

Kuonji-san grinned and got a far away look in his eye. "Ah, yes. Though I haven't seen my daughter in ten years, now."

Ran perked up. "Really? You said she is your daughter? You haven't seen her in ten years?" She paused for a bit. "Do you happen to know where she is now?"

"Well, not really. The last I saw her she was going off with her fiance and father in law."

"Fiance? She was engaged at the age of six?"

He laughed. "Well, she was very much in love with this boy, Saotome Ranma, but he and his father Genma moved around a lot. She ended up convincing me to engage her to the boy so that she could travel with them. Took me using my old okonomiyaki cart as a dowry. But, it was worth it if it made my little darling happy."

Akane felt about as sick as Ran looked. "Engaged. To. Saotome. Ranma. Right." Ran really didn't look pleased. Akane kept her mouth shut.

"Hai, hai. Why did you want to know?"

"I...well...I was trying to piece together a mystery of my youth. I think you've gone a long way to clearing it up."

"Glad to be of help." The man sighed. "It's been so long. I hope Ukyo is doing well. I really do miss her."

* * *

Ranma was in trouble. Or, at least that was what Akane assumed. Home visits by teachers generally meant that. That the visit also meant said age changing, ki draining teacher, who was also Akane's teach, would be visiting Akane's home as well was a little disturbing. Not that Akane was on bad terms with Hinako-Sensei.

So Akane ended up avoiding the issue by spending the afternoon with Ran. Spent it with her anywhere but the Tendo home. Which, at this point, was in the park. "Ran, you do realize how ridiculous that looks, right?"

The girl in question was hanging by her knees from a tree branch, and her unbound hair was hanging humorously from her head. Fortunately, Ran was wearing her usual loose shirt and pants, rather than a skirt. "So, let them laugh. It'll be good for them. I kind of like this."

"Baka," Akane giggled. She kissed Ran on the cheek and sat down leaning against the tree. "Ran, is my future `brother' in law really Kuonji Ukyo?"

Ran dropped from the branch with a flip, and sat down leaning against Akane's shoulder. "I don't know. Not for sure. Saotome Ranma may once have been Ukyo, or it may be someone completely different, and Ukyo is just missing. I think the only way to know would be to ask Genma or Ranma, and that would cause such a mess I don't think it's worth knowing."

Akane was silent for a moment. "Ran, how much do you know about the real Ranma's past?"

Ran sighed. "I wish you wouldn't put it that way. Saotome Ranma has been living as a Saotome for ten years. If I have all of the facts straight, pretending to be a boy for the first half of those years, and actually being one, for the most part, for all the rest. For all intents and purposes, this Ranma is the real Saotome Ranma."

"Okay, then tell me about Shikon Ranma."

"That, I can do. Let's see. For a lot of things, Ranma was too young to know for sure. I don't see any reason not to believe that he really is the son of Saotome Genma and Nodoka. Before he was old enough to remember his mother, Genma took him on a training trip."

"Don't forget the promise. Nodoka objected so much to Mr. Saotome taking her son away, he drew up a promise so drastic Nodoka could only let him go. Imagine, killing yourself because you're not manly enough!"

"Makes me wonder what Okaasan would think of Shikon Ranma now...anyway, the two of them, Ranma and Genma, traveled around. Eventually they came to a town that had a certain okonomiyaki vendor and...his daughter, Ukyo. But Ranma, having been weaned on Genma's sexist ideas, couldn't imagine such a rough child as Ukyo as a girl. So, Ranma assumed she was a boy. They would fight every day, and Ukyo would give him an okonomiyaki if he won. Ranma got one almost every day. The two became friends. They had that little adventure with the Gambling King, but never told their fathers about it."

"I guess that was you're first clue, wasn't it? Genma didn't know about the King, but Ranma did, so..."

"So Saotome Ranma would have to be someone who was there at the time. Which could have been Ukyo, or any number of other children. Anyway, eventually, Genma left, taking Ranma with him. Without Ukyo."

"Without? I thought her father said she went with them?"

"Nope. Ranma distinctly remembered waving goodbye to her on the road. Which is part of what bothers me. But more about that later. After leaving, Ranma and Genma traveled a few weeks before settling down again. That was when Genma tied Ranma up in fish sausage and tossed him into a basement full of starving cats."

"Nani!"

"The neko-ken training. At that young age, Ranma snapped immediately. In order to escape the fear of being in the dark with all of those hungry eyes and scratching paws, he retreated into his own mind and convinced himself he was a cat. With cat claws. What happened next, I don't know for sure. Ranma awoke miles away, in the arms of a woman."

"Shikon-Sensei."

"Hai. She nursed him back from his injuries. He was scratched terribly by the cats, but also bruised and, in some places, burned. Not even knowing what city they had been staying in, Ranma could not direct her to his father. Even given that she would have returned Ranma to such abuse. Eventually, Sensei helped Ranma overcome the neko-ken. He reclaimed some of the memories from when he was in the neko-ken."

"In the neko-ken?"

"That altered state of mind. That was the neko-ken, fighting like a cat. Anyway, Ranma eventually controlled the insane fear of cats the training had given him, and was able to use the skills it had given him without thinking he was a cat."

"Then Ranma taught it to you?"

Ran shrugged. Then she went on. "Anyway, some of the memories Ranma reclaimed hinted at a large fire of some sort. Sensei asked around some, and found a town where a house had burned down a few days before she found Ranma. By that time, not many people remembered, but there was a report that a boy had died in the flames, and his father had vanished soon after. It wasn't until many years latter that they came across a rumor about a Saotome Genma and his son Ranma."

Akane thought. "So this Ranma is someone Mr. Saotome found. Who was a girl. Who knows things that probably only Ranma, Ukyo, and a few kids knew. Ranma thought he left Ukyo behind, but her father said she left with him and did not return..."

"All things considered, I'm actually hoping that this Saotome Ranma used to be Ucchan."

"Ucchan?"

"Ranma's nickname for Ukyo. Anyway, if it is Ukyo, then everyone is accounted for. If not, I worry about what happened to her." Ran leaned her head onto Akane's shoulder. Akane let her cheek rest against the top of Ran's head.

* * *

"See, isn't it nice for the three of us to bath together?" Nodoka asked as she scrubbed Ran's back.

"Hai, Okaasan." Ran finished washing Akane's back. "Okay, Akane. I'm done."

"Here, Nodoka-obasama," Akane said, getting up to get behind Nodoka. "Let me was your back."

"Okay, Akane-chan." She rinsed off Ran. "There you go Ran-chan. All done." She leaned back, rolling her shoulders as Akane washed her back.

"Getting a sore back, Okaasan?" Ran as she saw the motion. She reached out to rest a hand on Nodoka's pregnant belly. "The baby is certainly getting big."

"Yes, it won't be too long now," Nodoka said, rubbing the bulge in her midsection. "Just a few months, and Ranma will have a little sister." Nodoka's face took on a concerned look. "I do hope Ranma will be alright. That other boy hurt him badly last time."

"Don't worry, Obasama," Akane said. "Your husband said that the Umisen-ken was superior to the Yamasen-ken. I'm sure he'll beat Ryu just like he beat everyone else."

"Besides," Ran commented as she got into the furo, "I would hate to think all of the trouble he's been causing all over the house is for nothing. When do you think they will get the dining room floor raised back up to the level of the house? I don't suppose it's easy for you to step down to the table for meals."

"Oh, it's not so bad. Thank you, Akane-chan. Can you help me into the furo?"

"Hai, Obasama." Akane steadied the pregnant woman as she stepped into the water, and then followed, herself.

"Well, speaking of Ranma," Ran began. She cupped some water from the bath in one hand and let it pour out. "And the hot water we happen to be in, there is something I've been meaning to talk to you about, Okaasan."

"What's that, Ran-chan?"

"Mostly, about how Ranma changes into a girl."

"Ara, ara. I usually try not to think about that too much. It embarrasses him so."

Ran nodded. "Which is part of the problem. I think Nabiki is helping him with that...embarrassment, but I think he needs more. A lot of the things he has done since I have known him seem like overcompensation. He's been trying too hard to appear manly."

"Appear manly?"

"Part of it is because of his father, but part, I'm sure, is to try not to disappoint you."

*I wonder where Ran intends to go with this.* "Obasama?" Akane started delicately. "I...well, when you congratulated Ranma for taking pictures of us in the bath, we were both very upset, though I don't think we have said anything until now."

"Yes, a perfect example." Ran said. "That really wasn't very manly, or adult, at all. Most people consider peeping on naked women very adolescent, childish. Please, please don't take it as an insult, but both you and your husband seem to have a..." Ran paused, not finding the right word. Akane couldn't think of what to say, either. Nodoka looked at ran wide eyed. "Silly," Ran said finally, wincing even as she said it. "Your view on what is manly is sort of silly."

"But..." Nodoka looked so helpless.

"Okaasan, who are you trying to impress?" Though Ran's voice was gentle, her words sounded harsh to Akane. "Ranma doesn't need to be the best warrior, or the manliest man. He just needs to be happy. And, for the past few months, he has been dealing with being a girl part of the time."

"But the only time he is a girl is in the bath. Though there are those times Happosai accidentally spills hot water on him. I suppose that is awfully embarrassing for a man."

Ran turned her head to the side, not looking at Nodoka anymore. "That's not...I just think Ranma would be a happier, better person, more manly, if you want, if you told him it was okay to be a girl. That he didn't have to worry about being manly for you. If...if you could talk to him some about being a woman, maybe teach him a little." Ran got out of the water and headed for the door. Akane looked to see that Nodoka looked a little shocked, and then followed her friend. She found Ran in the changing room, holding herself and shaking. When Akane reached out to her, Ran collapsed into her arms and squeezed her in a hug

.

"Oh, Akane!" she sobbed quietly, almost a whisper. "I said such awful, mean things to her!"

Akane rocked Ran in her arms for a while. *It really didn't sound mean, but Nodoka is so gentle, and those things are so important to her...I don't know.* After Ran settled into sniffing on her shoulder, Akane gently pushed her to arms length. "Ran, why don't you go back in and talk to her again. However you think you hurt her, it will only be worse if she thinks it made you not care for her anymore."

"You're, right. Just give me a second." Ran wiped her eyes, straightened up, and then opened the inner door to walk into the furo again. Nodoka, who had been sadly staring down at the water, brightened as she saw Ran.

Akane pushed Ran forward and closed the door behind her. She exhaled, and congratulated herself for a good save. Then she reached for a towel to dry herself off and instead found...*Cinder blocks from the dojo?* "RANMA!"

* * *

"Hello, Nodoka-obasama," Akane said as she walked into the Tendo living room. "Where did that chair come from?"

Nodoka turned, pivoting the padded chair. "Welcome back, Akane. The chair? Your father said a priest gave it to him. Did you have a good time with Ran?"

"Hai."

"Well, that's nice. Could you go out to the dojo and tell the boys that dinner is ready?"

"Oh?" Akane asked as she headed for the door. "What are they doing?"

Nodoka smiled. As always. "Last time I looked, they were fighting the suit of clothes they came home with."

Akane walked out, muttering about the intelligence of someone who wrestles with clothing. Her curiosity piqued she in fact heard sounds of a fight. "They can't really be fighting a suit clothing, can they?"

When she slid the dojo door open, she found that Genma, Ranma, and Soun were doing just that. And losing. Badly. "What in the world?!" At that point, the suit suddenly flew out from between the three to fly straight at her.

"No!" shouted Ranma. "Akane! Run! That suit is dangerous!"

"Nani...?!" But it was too late, the suit was upon her. Then, with a flash, her clothing was ripped to shreds and the suit was on her, literally. It fit itself around her tightly. For just a moment, she stood, shocked. Then she felt it, the suit's aura. Lust. The suit was full of lust. So much lust. She wasn't wearing it, it was groping her! Akane screamed. The other's watched as Akane dropped to the ground and curled into a fetal ball.

"Saotome! Do something!" her father wailed. "My little girl!"

"Do what, Tendo?"

"How should I know?!"

"You idiots! We need to get the suit off of her!" Ranma scolded as he started to pull at the fabric. It wasn't moving.

"The temple!" Soun shouted. "It's their suit. They have to know what to do!" He ran for the phone.

Inside of Akane's mind, her inner self matched her physical body, curled up into a ball, trying to shut out the eyes staring at her body, the...hands groping at her flesh. *Go away! Go away! Go away!*

In the Tendo home, Soun was screaming into the phone, looking for all the world like a raging demon. "No we can't hit the buckle! She's curled up in a ball!...What do you mean get her to fall in love! She's not even moving!"

Nabiki hit the receiver. "That is obviously not going to help, Daddy. Give me the phone."

"Who are you going to call?!"

Nabiki gave her father a surprised look. "Who do you think?" She turned back to the phone. "Hello, Ran? Bring your Sensei over here quickly. Akane needs help."

For a long time, Akane suffered, cringing away from the malignant presence around her. She felt like she had been thrown naked into a pit full of the worst kind of men she could imagine. Akane shook her fear infrequently to lash out at the worst of the intrusions. She had never felt so helpless in her life.

Then another presence made itself known in her mind. This one radiated care and concern. As the warm aura surrounding the presence pushed back the dark lustful manifestations tormenting her, Akane found it to be familiar. *Ran!*

*I'm here, Akane.* Ran seemed calm. Akane "looked" at her, and found something odd; she seemed to be a double image. One the familiar nude form of Ran, the other... *Akane, you need to fight back.*

*How? It...it has no form! How can I harm it?*

*That great big aura of yours silly. Burn it off.*

Akane flared her aura. I seemed to offer her a bit of protection. *Like this.*

*Yes. Just bigger, stronger; full power. Don't worry, you can do it! Get to it! Burn this hentai thing away!* Ran's presence retreated from Akane's growing aura. Glaring around at that which had cowed her before, Akane mirrored its malice, and began.

In the dojo, family members started in concern as Ran got up from her position beside Akane. "She's fighting back, now. It won't be long."

"I still don't understand why Shikon-Sensei can't just...you know." Nabiki made a gesture with her hands.

"It is really for the best that Akane do this herself," the woman said. "Look, its starting." The battle suit covering Akane's body started to give off smoke as parts of it darkened.

In her mind, a fire shrouded Akane rained fiery vengeance down upon dirty spirits that had invaded her mind. She found that there seemed a hard point, where the spirits converged and sprang from. She concentrated on that point, and burned away the vapors concealing it, revealing a gold and silver glowing Yin-Yang. Reaching beyond the confines of her own mind, Akane grabbed the symbol and wrenched it from its anchoring, flaring her fire with a scream of defiance.

In the dojo, the others watched as the smoldering suit burst into flame. Several jumped back as it was reduced to ash. With a crack, the metallic belt split and the two halves of the Yin-Yang buckle separated. Then the fire ceased, and nothing was left but Akane lying on the floor, bits of the belt draped over her. A naked Akane.

Nabiki slapped her hands over Ranma's face. Nodoka stepped in front of Genma as Soun dragged him out of the dojo. Shikon-Sensei shooed everyone out, until only Ran was left to drape a blanket over Akane, who was by now reviving.

"What...what was that?" Akane asked, putting a hand to her head and drawing the blanket around herself with the other.

"That, as far as we can tell, was a magic battle suit, made to absorb the battle skills and strength of its wearer so that they could be passed on to another wearer. Looks like it also absorbed a piece of each of the wearers, or, at least their lust. That's probably why it only accepts women, now. Of course, since it was tailored for a man, it's prospects in women would be limited to those with boyish figures..."

"Hey! Are you trying to insult me?"

Ran smiled. "Now why would I do that. I like your boyish figure!"

Akane blushed again. Then she closed her eyes and looked inwardly at the "prize" she had taken destroying the suit. "Battle skill, hun?" She frowned. "Hai, I can feel it. Knowledge of every style, every school of the wearers, armed and unarmed." She opened her eyes. "I...I could beat...everyone. Ranma, his father, Ryoga, Shampoo, even Happosai and Cologne."

"What? What do you mean?"

"The skill the suit held. I took it. It was how I finished it off. All of the lust was clinging to it, so I just ripped it out, and took it."

Ran looked thoughtful. "Maybe...the suit was made just to absorb skill and strength...and I can definitely see that Yin-Yang pattern in your aura now...You might be right. I'm sure there is some area of skill you haven't acquired, but now you may just be the strongest martial artist in the world."

Akane looked downcast if anything. "And none of it's mine. It's all borrowed from someone else. What's the point."

Ran gave her a shallow smile. "I know what you mean. Suddenly acquiring an unbeatable technique."

"The neko-ken?"

"Hai."

Akane took Ran's hand. "Ran, thank you. For coming to help me. I couldn't have done it without you."

Ran demurred. "You're my friend. I couldn't let you suffer on your own."

"I mean it, Ran. And not just for this. For everything."

Ran's face twisted. "Don't go thanking me just yet. If I hadn't taught you to be aura sensitive, you wouldn't have felt anything odd putting on the suit in the first place."

"But it still would have been taking advantage of me. No Ran, I mean it." Akane pulled Ran's hand up to rest on her cheek. "I've been meaning to say...I thought, had heard, that you were in love with me. Well, I love you too. Ai-shi-te-ru."

"A-Akane?"

"Ran, I accept you. Everything. I don't care what secrets your hiding. You...you don't have to say anything."

"Akane..."

"Ran?" Akane lowered Ran's hand so that she could clasp it in both of her's. "When you came into my mind...I saw an image of you. What was that?"

Ran took her hand back, and relaxed, relieved to be moving on to safer topics. "Well, that would be a manifestation of my self image, as seen through your perceptions, of course."

"Then, that was how you think of yourself?"

"Pretty much, yes. You might as well say it is who I am."

"Ran," Akane leaned close to Ran. "Why are you both yourself and Shikon Ranma?"

"Oops."

* * *

Ranma held his baby sister in his arms. For all that she was a wrinkled, drooly mess, he had to agree with Nodoka; she was the cutest thing he had ever seen. The newborn, for her part, was sleeping soundly as she was passed around the room. Ranma thought Akane and her friend Ran lingered especially long over her.

The small party was breaking up. Ryoga left, sitting behind Akari on her huge pig. Tofu gave a goodnight kiss to Kasumi. Nodoka took her daughter up to bed. Ran had just left when Akane came up to Ranma.

"Ranma?" she asked. "Could you come with me? Someone wants to talk to you."

"Ah, sure, Akane. Who is it?"

"That's a surprise." Akane lead Ranma out of the Tendo house and down the street a ways. When they reached an ally, a male voice sounded from the shadows.

"Ucchan, I that you?" the voice asked.

Ranma froze. Trembling, he turned to the voice as Akane jumped away; since that battle suit incident, she seemed impossibly fast. A boy, apparently about his age, walked out. A fearfully familiar boy. "Ra-Ranchan?"

The boy reached forward to touch him. Even though there was no hot water present, Ranma felt the change come on, and knew she was a girl again. "It is you, Ukyo, isn't it? Or was."

"Oh, Ranchan it is you; you're alive!" the girl sobbed, sinking to the ground. "I'm so sorry, he told me you were dead, I..."

"Ucchan, no, Ranma, stop," the boy said. He crouched down next to her. "I'm not here to hurt you, or take away the life you know. I'd never want to hurt you. I have my own life, now. You are Saotome Ranma as long as you want to be."

The girl looked up. "Then, why?"

"I just wanted to know why? Why did you become me? I know you ran after Genma and I, but I didn't leave him until weeks after that."

"I was following you."

"As six year old?"

"It was hard," the girl said. "I had to beg. Sometimes steal. I asked around, and I followed."

"That, that must have been hard."

The girl nodded. "It was, but not as hard as finally catching up only to find out that..."

"That I was dead. In that fire. He probably believes it. But how did he get you to agree to be..."

"It was my idea."

"Yours?"

"I had heard of widows taking their husband's names. It was all I could think of to do for you."

"And Jusenkyo?"

"We heard of a way that people can change their bodies. Women becoming men. So, when I was eleven, we went, and, instead of pretending to be a boy, I really became one."

"And the ladle? You must have had the curse locked sometime."

"The summer before we came here. We went to China, and Pop stole it from the Musk. We left it behind when we were done. No sense in getting them more upset than necessary."

"But still probably why he locked Genma's curse when he saw him."

"I guess."

"Well, I guess that's it," the boy said, standing up.

"Are...are you going to tell everyone?" The girl stood as well.

"Na..." the boy said. He touched the girl, and she became a boy again. Then with a wink, he sank into his clothing and became…

"Ran?!" Ranma's eyes widened as he stared at the girl. "All of this time, you were right here?!"

"Pretty much," Ran responded.

"You have a curse, too? How?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a curse, not since I've learned to control it. I like being both, so Sensei adopted me a second time as a girl."

Ranma was, if anything more shocked.

"Here, this will help explain." Ranma was startled as Akane suddenly reappeared beside him and handed him a scroll. "It's the technique for controlling Jusenkyo magic. We gave one to Ryoga before he left."

"What...why...?"

"We are leaving, Sensei, I," Ran came up beside Akane and put her arm around her. "...and Akane. We wanted someone to know the whole story before we left town. Someone who knows better, or has the most to lose if everything comes out in the wrong way."

"Here, take this too," Akane said, handing Ranma an envelope. There were tears in her eyes. "Give this to my family. It explains everything we want them to know right now." Ranma took it mutely.

"Hopefully, our leaving will get Cologne to follow us. She knows you were born a girl. Which, by the way, is why Shampoo went home. Cologne thinks that Ran has a brother named Ranma, and may suspect that he is the son of the Saotomes," Akane said.

"But she's not interested in you anymore, and has held her peace this long, so I don't think she will spoil anything for you," Ran continued. "Still, I think it's best that you not tell anyone that I am both, and let everyone think that I just happen to have a brother named Shikon Ranma."

Ranma looked back and forth between the girls, at a loss for words.

Ran sighed. "Okay, I see we have to do it this way. Go home. Show everyone the letter. Don't show anyone the scroll."

"And don't let Genma have it until you can wring something good from him," Akane put in.

"Right," Ran continued. "And go on living as you have been."

Ranma looked at the two again. Something clicked. "You two, you're really leaving? Akane?"

"That's right," Akane said. "We'll come back some day, when everyone is ready to know the truth."

"I..." Ranma just stood there. "I'll miss you two," he said finally.

Both Akane and Ran stepped forward to hug him. "Silly," Akane scolded. "You shouldn't hide your feelings behind all of that male macho stuff. I would have thought as a girl you would know better." They let go and stepped back. "Now, my sister loves you, so you better love her back, got it?"

"Hai!"

"Now, get out of here, before everyone starts worrying," Ran said. "Oh, and one more thing. Ukyo's father misses her. You might visit some day. I wrote his address on the scroll. Sayoonara."

"Sa...sayoonara." With one last teary eyed look over his shoulder, Ranma walked home. Akane sniffed.

"Hard, leaving home, isn't it?" Ran asked. "Not that I would know. The only home I've ever had moves around with me." She sniffed a little. The two of them turned and started walking to a new destination.

"Are you okay, leaving your mother?"

"Hai. I wanted to see the baby before we left, and I did. She is fine. She'll be okay without me. But it was nice, to finally see her." Ran wiped her face. Then she seemed to think of something, and changed into male form. "These cloths are a lot more comfortable when I'm the right size to wear them."

Akane put her arm around the boy's waist. "Oi, can I still call you `Ran' when you're like this?"

"Oh, I don't know. That might confuse people. I suppose you could call me Ranchan, like a pet name, then no one would think twice about you calling both forms like that." Akane hit him not too gently in the gut. "Speaking of which," he continued, "how about a name for your male side?"

Akane winced. "I'm not even sure if I want to go out in public like that yet."

"But you make such a handsome boy. Maybe I should just call you A-chan."

"Baka."

They walked into a park, where Shikon-Sensei and two others were waiting, a white-haired man, and a teenager who looked like a slim girl, dressed in a kimono. "I still think I should be disappointed in you."

"Relax, Kagome-chan. Those three really had no business raising the boy. Look, they treated him like dirt and even convinced him he was a girl, for crying out loud. I just thought we could take him in until he can fend for himself." The girlish looking boy next to him looked down embarrassed.

"Kagome?" Akane asked. "I don't think you ever told me your Sensei's name."

"Ah, well, never thought to before." Ran raised his voice. "Sensei, we're here!"

"Oh, what's this?" The man asked, turning to see them. "Ranma? Did you pick up a wife? Wait, don't tell me you gave her that water you are always playing around with."

"Afraid so."

"Oh, just wonderful. Two hermaphrodites and I bring in a cross dresser. I must be insane."

"Sit, dear," Kagome said. The man was suddenly slammed to the ground. "That wasn't very nice."

The man grumbled as he picked himself up. "...centuries, you'd think she would remove that, but no-o-o-o..."

"Really, dear, I think you rather like it some times." Kagome turned to Ran and Akane. "Well, it looks like my husband has decided to take on a guest. Akane, Ran, meat Konatsu."

"And what am I, chopped liver?" the man said. Up close, Akane decide he looked a bit...wolfish.

Ran chuckled. "Alright. This," he made a grand gesture at Akane," is Tendo Akane, the love of my life." He gestured to the man. "And this, Akane, is the husband of my Sensei, the demon Inu-Yasha."

End.

* * *

Author's note:

Just to get everything straitened way, Ranma and Inu-Yasha

are works by Takahashi Rumiko, which have been published by Viz in

the US. I did not write this for profit, and no one should make money

off of it. It is a Fan fiction.

Did you like it? Did everyone figure out what was going on?

The main breaks from the original are Ukyo continuing to follow the

Saotomes, Genma starting the Cat-fist early (Ranma was supposed to

be ten), and introducing an immortal Kagome from Inu-Yasha. I sort

of let other discrepancies fall from that. Genma goes to Nodoka first,

Nabiki finds the male Ukyo attractive, no half-girlness to throw her off.

Not everything was resolved, but this was supposed to be about Akane

and a different type of Ranma. I suppose if you really want you can

write a continuing adventures of Akane and Ran if you liked this, but

I'm not going to.

One might note that this was heavily influenced by some other

fan fics. I have to say that the underlying ideas may have originated

with "The Avitar." I'm sure that "Akane and Ranma: a love story" had

a some influence, but I was already thinking of controlled curses long

before reading "Way of the Ninjutsu."

Go ahead and send any sorts of comments or criticisms to

ginnoryu .


End file.
